Elective splenectomy in haematological disorders.

We report on 106 elective splenectomies performed for haematological disorders between March 1979 and January 1986. The most common indications were immune thrombocytopenic purpura (30 patients) and Hodgkin's disease (19 patients). However, staging laparotomy is no longer performed routinely for patients with Hodgkin's disease and the reasons for this are discussed. Other indications for splenectomy included splenic pain (13 patients), autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (12 patients), hereditary spherocytosis (11 patients) and hypersplenism (9 patients). The overall morbidity and mortality was 48% and 5% respectively. The most common postoperative complication was thrombocytosis (defined as a platelet count greater than 800 X 10(9)/l) and occurred in 26 patients. This review confirms that splenectomy continues to have an important role in the management of certain haematological disorders.