Partial Splenectomy in the Treatment of Thalassaemia Major

Abstract

From 1981-1982 we performed partial splenectomy in 6 children with beta-thalassaemia major as an alternative to splenectomy to reduce transfusion and to preserve some splenic immune function. In two of our young patients with transfusion requirements of 150 ml/kg/year, where more than 2/3 of the spleen was removed, the number of transfusions was significantly reduced with prolonged intervals, haemoglobin rose with a marked improvement in the general condition, nutrition and growth. There were no major post-operative complications. 2 years' follow-up revealed no infection without sepsis prophylaxis.

Splenectomy for Hematological Diseases: The Qatif Central Hospital Experience

“…40 To obviate this, alternatives to total splenectomy have been tried. [41][42][43][44] We performed partial splenectomy in nine patients with ß-thalassemia major, and three patients with Hb H disease. Two of the three patients with Hb H disease required no more blood transfusions, while the third continued to receive blood transfusions but at a lower frequency.…”

Partial splenectomy in homozygous beta thalassaemia.

“…The diagnosis of thalassaemia major and intermedia was based on transfusion requirements.5 The patients' mean (SD) age was 7-9 (3 7) years (range [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] years) at the time of the partial splenectomy. Twenty five patients received a low transfusion regimen and five received a high transfusion regimen (table 1).…”

Late Results of a Modified New Surgical Procedure for the Treatment of Portal Hypertension

“…Subtotal splenectomy is a prophylactic measure and a treatment for splenomegaly and hypersplenism [9]. At the same time, it prevents fulminant sepsis that could result from splenectomy especially in young children [2,5,10,11,19,22,24]. In comparison, shunt procedures have a high failure rate in children, due to technical difficulties and a low patency rate [1,3,4,12,14,23].…”