CURRENT THOUGHTS AND APPROACHES OF THE ‎MANAGEMENT TO THE INJURED SPLEEN

Abstract

The spleen is not considered any more to be dispensable1. By the end of the last century, virtually ‎none of the dogma believed to be unequivocally true 25 years earlier in the management of the ‎injured spleen was practiced. In this review several changes in the management of injuries to the ‎spleen, in particularly blunt injuries are presented. These includes: diagnosis, attempts of operative ‎splenic salvage, nonoperative management, and emphasis of preventing postsplenectomy ‎infection versus controlling bleeding.‎‎ Recently and during a period of less than two months, six patients with injury to the spleen (five ‎with blunt trauma and one atraumatic spontaneous rupture) were admitted under the care of the ‎present author. They are briefly presented before the rest of the review. As these cases have had ‎different presentation and management, it was thought that the discussion will give a further ‎account of the diversity of the management of injuries to this solid abdominal organ.‎