complications of splenectomy
Last reviewed 01/2018
Early complications include:
- infection:
- often subphrenic
- thrombosis:
- a result of transiently raised platelet levels
- patients are treated prophylactically with aspirin
Late complications are usually infective:
- asplenic patients are susceptible to rapidly progressive pneumococcal and meningococcal infections
- the risk of infection is reduced by proper prophylaxis
- in children, elective splenectomy should be delayed until the immune system has matured; it is inadvisable to perform splenectomy before the age of five, and best to wait until age ten