Recently, a little boy I know fell from a third floor apartment balcony and suffered some serious injuries. He was bleeding internally due to the rupture of his left kidney and his spleen. The doctors had to perform an emergency surgery to stop the bleeding and remove the kidney as well as the spleen. You must be wondering why I'm posting about this already.
Well, one thing I've noticed from the incident is that not many people actually know the function of the spleen (some didn't even know the existence of the organ). So, I thought I'd at least educate my students or others who read this blog about their spleens. (WARNING: This post assumes that the reader has no knowledge whatsoever about the subject matter. If you feel your intelligence insulted in any way, the author apologises in advance.)
Your spleen is an organ above your stomach and under your ribs on your left side (a prime spot for injury). It is about as big as your fist and that makes it about the size of your heart. The spleen is part of your lymphatic system, which fights infection and keeps your body fluids in balance. It contains white blood cells that fight germs (feel your intelligence insulted yet?). Your spleen also helps control the amount of blood in your body, and destroys old and damaged cells (basically it's your blood cells' graveyard).
The average weight of an adult spleen is 0.44 lbs (that's about 200 grams). However, during and after digestion, the size of the spleen increases. Infection of malaria or mono can also cause the spleen to increase in size. If the increase in size is significant, the spleen can rupture. If the spleen ruptures, immediate medical care is necessary (duh!). You may need emergency surgery to control the bleeding. Other diseases that causes enlargement of the spleen are: rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, sickle cell amenia, leukemia, and lymphoma.
Apart from diseases, a ruptured spleen is typically caused by a blow to the left upper abdomen or the left lower chest. Sporting mishaps, fist fights and car accidents (and even falling from a third floor apartment) are common triggers. The spleen is soft and is surrounded by a tough covering, or capsule. An injured spleen may rupture soon after the abdominal trauma or, in some cases, days or even weeks after the injury. Not all spleen injuries are the same. There may be a mild bruise, a little tear, making it bleed into its middle, or it may be broken into several pieces.
Traditionally, children with an injured spleen underwent an operation to remove it, a so-called splenectomy (try saying that 10 times very quickly). Over the past 30 years, surgeons have learned that more than 90% of children with an injured spleen can heal without an operation, saving the spleen's important infection fighting role. To get the spleen to heal, the child needs to remain in bed in the hospital until their spleen has stopped bleeding, and they must then restrict their participation in sports or other vigorous activities to keep their spleen from being reinjured. Sometimes, if the child is in shock, or the spleen doesn't stop bleeding on its own, an operation is needed to remove or repair the spleen.
You can live an active life without a spleen (woohooo!). Other organs, such as your liver, will take over some of the spleen's work. Without a spleen, however, your body will lose some of its ability to fight infections (bummer!). Therefore, you're more likely to contract serious or even life-threatening infections. If your spleen is removed, you should get vaccinated (get a "shot") against pneumococcal infection and get a booster shot every 3 to 5 years. Your doctor may also want you to get 2 other shots, one to protect you against Haemophilus infections and another to protect against meningitis. In some cases, preventive antibiotics may be recommended as well — especially if you have any other conditions that increase your risk of serious infections. Children who have a splenectomy might need to take antibiotics for at least 2 years after the spleen is taken out, and sometimes until age 21 (maybe even their whole lifetime).
Now you know! ;)
21 comments:
O0o0o0o0o0oh~~~know we know~~
WOW! I feel so much Smarter... and Dumber at the same time...
;P
kor, i didn't know XD
thought spleen might be hempedu...
err...is it?
heheh...yay! Now I Know :P btw sir,I was watching this tv program on discovery channel this morning, they were talking about how lymphocytes work and what they do etc!! The images and all were soooo cool! :D
haha...hey teck choon! nope, hempedu is bile actually. it's from your liver.
sakun, Discovery is one of my favorite channels on Astro. ;)
Hey Mr Jaya, i read abt this lil boy in the papers. Poor kid la, felt so sorry for him. Apparently he's outta the icu. Hope he's ok la. Did u visit him? Hows he doin now?
hey yeah, it came out in the papers. and yes, i visited him when he was in the icu. he was very hungry then and all he wanted was to eat but couldn't yet. but he's been recovering quite well. he's hand is in a cast and hopefully it recovers on its own or he'll need a minor surgery. it's the follow up after he's out of the hospital that would be the difficult part. he'll have to be on antibiotics for the rest of his life on top of the injections that he'll need monthly. he'll have to be very careful with the people he's around because he'll be prone to getting sick. but both his family and him are all handling it quite well. thanks for asking. :)
just an update on the little boy, he's out of the hospital already and well on his way to recovery.
Well hey good for him.
Wish him a good ol' bhai sized best o'luck for me ya! ;)
Yay for Samuel! Thats his name, rite? =P Its good that his family is handling it well too. He'll b fine la, seems like he and his family have a pretty good support system as well. =)
hi sir tifoso is here =)
haha...yeah good support system indeed! ;)
hey tifoso! what took you so long to get here? how are things with you? and why the name change? :p
haha tifoso is fine here =) coz no internet at my hostel room mah .. but now using the free wireless which is supposely blocked and only for those who pay for the wireless service ;p
eh...free wireless which is only fro those who pay? what a contradiction? ;)
LOL! Now all we need is a buffet for ppl who aren't hungry.
;P
Sir, if one doesn't have a spleen, can he/she get a spleen from someone else? Like in the case of kidneys?
spleen transplant has not been successfully done on humans yet but it's potential has been realised and is being researched. you can read this short article. http://www.labanimal.com/laban/journal/v36/n2/pdf/laban0207-8b.pdf
If you did happen to rupture your spleen and it was a 4 therefore they did not remove it and it healed, is it normal to have a constant cramp in that area. The cramp feels like i drank a bottle of water and then ran a mile. Normal???
dear curious, i'm not quite the best person to ask these questions as i am not a medical doctor but a mere biology teacher. :) my advice to you would be to consult your regular doctor about this matter. i did come across a website that's interesting though. you can go look it up.
http://symptoms.wrongdiagnosis.com/cosymptoms/stomach-cramps-all.htm
Howlong can one survive if Spleen and left kidney were removed?
a person can live indefinitely without a spleen and one kidney but the quality of life will be affected with having to take medication all their life to help with the immune system.
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