The big and/or soft spleen: a survey of necropsy specimens.

A statistical survey of the necropsy population, for the year 1973, at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Long Beach, Calif, was performed to determine changes occurring in the spleen. When cirrhosis of the liver was present, spleens were usually enlarged but not substantially firmer. In cases in which there was no cirrhosis, severe systemic infection was not accompanied by splenomegaly, although spleen softening was present. Generally, spleen size did not appear to be related to its own consistency. However, when cirrhosis of the liver was present, severe infection was accompanied by a decrease in the size of the spleen, with no change in consistency; but in these cases, there was less infection at the time of death. Splenomalacia was not shown to be related to postmortem autolysis. The spleen weight decreased only slightly with aging.