Immunological Studies in Children Before and After Splenectomy

Abstract

Fourteen children underwent splenectomy for congenital spherocytosis, splenomegaly, or thrombocytopenia. The patients were studied twice before the operation, three times during the first postoperative month, and one year later. A transitory rise in neutrophils and serum IgA was seen postoperatively; there was a modest but long-lasting increase in lymphocytes and a marked elevation of eosinophils. An immediate decline in serum IgM concentration was observed only in patients with an uncomplicated postoperative course, but one year after splenectomy the average IgM concentration had decreased by 23%. The in vitro lymphocyte transformation response to a panel of mitogens and antigens fell in the immediate postoperative period but was largely normalized 10 days postoperatively, except in the youngest of the patients who had repeated infections following the splenectomy. One year postoperatively the transformation response and the number of T- and B-lymphocytes in the blood were normal.

Are the Changes of Lymphocyte Subsets in Sickle Cell Anemia due to the Loss of Splenic Function?

“…These results show that the number of lymphocytes was increased in S C A and in splenectomized subjects as have been previously reported [15,16,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30]], This increment is more pronounced in S C A and the inter pretation for this finding is unclear. Differences be tween the effect of autosplenectomy and surgical splenectomy and the influence of previous transfu sions should be considered.…”

Alloimmunization to Red Cells and the Association of Alloantibodies Formation with Splenectomy Among Transfusion-Dependent β-Thalassemia Major/HbE Patients

“…Our result was also demonstrated that alloantibodies-formation was higher in splenectomised subjects and associated with splenectomy. Several studies have shown that splenectomy is associated with changes in both humoral and cell mediated immunity, including decreased serum IgM concentrations and raised serum IgG and IgA concentrations [19][20][21][22]. Thromboembolic events and hypercoagulable state have been reported in b-TM patients and more frequent in splenectomized patients [23].…”

Immune Responses to a Hapten-Carrier Conjugate in Splenectomized and BCG-Treated Guinea Pigs

“…Impairment of cell-mediated immunity after splenec tomy has been suggested, the herpes simplex virus-in duced lymphocyte transformation being reduced [16]. In contrast, phytohemagglutinin-induced lymphocyte transformation is unchanged [16] or only depressed during the immediate postoperative period [1,2].…”