Splenectomy in kala-azar
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Date
1984-09Author
Rees, PH
Kager, PA
Kyambi, JM
Ayim, EN
Bhatt, KM
Schattenkerk, JK
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
At the beginning of the century, splenectomy was used in the treatment of kala-azar, but now is rarely needed, the major indication being for drug resistant kala-azar. Inadvertent splenectomy prior to the diagnosis of kala-azar continues to occur, probably because of a reluctance to perform splenic aspiration in the investigation of splenomegaly. Five Kenyan children underwent splenectomy for drug resistant kala-azar. All were immediately improved, but one died of overwhelming post splenectomy infection (OPSI) two months later and another of a malignant lymphoma seven months after surgery. The other three patients appear to be cured. Splenectomy was considered in a sixth child with kala-azar because of a Salmonella abscess in the spleen, but the abscess ruptured catastrophically before surgery could be arranged.
URI
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6506208http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/16474
Citation
Tropical Geographic Medicine 1984 Sep;36(3):285-92Publisher
College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi
Description
Journal article
Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10377]