Hi, My name is Kate and I wonder if you could answer the following: my son had to have his spleen completely removed as it was completely ruptured after a bad rugby tackle. Surgery took 4 hours and he required 3 units of blood . When the surgeon came to talk to us the first question he as was did our son ever have lymph problems to which we answered no and we thought no more about it. This was all in Novemeber 2012. In recent weeks his platelet count has started to slowly rise. Can you tell me why the surgeon would ask about his lymphs ? Thank you
Hi and thanks for the query, the spleen, the lymph nodes and the bone marrow constitute what we call the lymphopeoitic system. These structures are interrelated. He was certainly trying to exclude the possibility of a tumor. The spleen is very important in destroying worn out red blood cells and platelets. It's not surprising that the child s platelet count could be rising with time. However, patients without spleens fight encapsulated bacteria ineffectively. It shall thus be advisable to respect strict following up the hemophilia influenza, pseudo 23 and typhoid vi vaccines all the time against these three bacteria: Nasser meningitis, Meningococci and Salmonella. Hope this helps and best regards, Luchuo, MD.