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Complications of splenectomy

Authoring team

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

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