Influence of splenectomy on the levels of circulating immune complexes (CIC) in Hodgkin's disease (HD).

A 3.75% polyethylene glycol 6000-precipitation method was used to estimate the levels of circulating immune complexes (CIC) in pre- and postsplenectomy serum samples obtained from 34 patients suffering from Hodgkin's disease (HD). In 26 out of the 34 patients (76.47%) the postsplenectomy samples showed a considerable decrease in CIC levels compared to the levels in the presplenectomy samples. Two patients showed a marginal change while the remaining 6 patients exhibited elevated levels of CICs after splenectomy. The mean levels (in terms of OD 450 nm) in the pre- and postsplenectomy sample sets were 0.66 +/- 0.07 and 0.42 +/- 0.05, respectively (p less than 0.01). There was no apparent relationship between the interval elapsed after splenectomy (6-22 days) and the magnitude of decrease (1.7-91.8%). Patients with LP-type histology and splenic involvement formed a category that preferentially showed a substantial decrease in CIC levels after splenectomy.