Effects of Removal
See also: AspleniaSurgical removal causes:
- modest increases in circulating white blood cells and platelets,
- diminished responsiveness to some vaccines,
- increased susceptibility to infection by bacteria and protozoa; in particular, there is an increased risk of sepsis from polysaccharide encapsulated bacteria.
A 28-year follow-up of 740 veterans of World War II who had their spleens removed on the battlefield found that those who had been splenectomized showed a significant excess of mortality from pneumonia (6 rather than the expected 1.3) and a significant excess of mortality from ischemic heart disease (4.1 rather than the expected 3) but not from other conditions.
Read more about this topic: Spleen
Famous quotes containing the words effects and/or removal:
“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“Many a reformer perishes in his removal of rubbish,—and that makes the offensiveness of the class. They are partial; they are not equal to the work they pretend. They lose their way; in the assault on the kingdom of darkness, they expend all their energy on some accidental evil, and lose their sanity and power of benefit.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)