Tropical splenomegaly syndrome in Nigerian adults.

Thirty-nine Tropical Splenomegaly Syndrome (TSS) patients. 19 males and 20 females, aged 13 to 69 years, with a mean age of 44.4 years, seen over a two-year period, January 1987 to December, 1988, at the consultant Medical Out-patient Clinics of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria, were retrospectively studied. The aetiopathogenetic basis of the syndrome was briefly reviewed. The implications of the probable extent of this medical problem TSS in the tropics was emphasized. The spectrum of clinical presentation, haematological picture and results of other investigations were reviewed. An attempt was made to possibly distinguish TSS from such other similarly presenting conditions as Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Chronic granulocytic leukaemia and Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, on clinical grounds and simple laboratory data that can be easily available to the tropical physician. The probable complications of TSS, the ease of treatment and the impressive results of therapy were highlighted. The place of the different antimalarial chemoprophylactic agents in the treatment of TSS was reviewed. Finally, the question of the appropriate duration of therapy for TSS was entertained.