Malign effects of splenectomy--the place of conservative treatment.

In this review article the incidence is discussed of overwhelming post-splenectomy infection (OPSI), which is especially likely to occur in children and when splenectomy is carried out for haematological disorders. Long-term broad spectrum antibiotics or the use of polyvalent pneumococcal vaccine are often advocated as prophylactic measures under these circumstances. After mild splenic trauma, conservative surgery or partial splenectomy may be indicated in some cases. Where trauma is more severe and the spleen cannot safely be preserved there may be a place for autotransplantation of splenic slices, for example into a pocket of omentum, and there is some experimental support for this technique.