Spleen - symptoms of the disease, rules of examination and treatment

The spleen is an unpaired organ of the hematopoiesis system, which normally is located in the left hypochondrium at the level of the ninth - eleventh vertebra. The main functions of this organ in the human body largely depend on the age, nevertheless, in all patients the spleen is involved in the regulation of the processes of hematopoiesis and immune defense of the body, the exchange of iron and proteins, and is also a mechanical filter that can arrest thrombi of various calibrations and dissolve their. That is why any inflammatory process, trauma or swelling of the body can cause the spleen, whose symptoms can be quite diverse, will disturb its owner. Do not ignore these symptoms - in most cases, signs of a spleen disease should cause the patient to seek qualified medical help.

The most frequent complaints of patients

Undoubtedly, the most frequent symptom of the defeat of this organ, which the patient can pay attention to, is pain in the left hypochondrium and a feeling of constant bursting, but the spleen, whose symptoms gradually increase, is already significantly enlarged by this time. First, the pain occurs only with physical activity, then occurs after eating, but the intensity of this symptom grows very slowly. Actually, the parenchyma of the spleen itself can not be ill - the appearance of this symptom indicates the overextension of its capsule and the neglect of the process.

In addition, the spleen, whose symptoms often indicate the onset of the pathological state of the hematopoiesis system, can be palpated by the doctor or, much less often, by the patient himself - in some cases, the enlarged organ can occupy the entire abdominal cavity. In a small number of cases this organ can be injured, and the spleen, the symptoms of which in this case will be indicative of the development of massive internal bleeding, can be very affected. In this case, the only way to save the patient is immediate surgical intervention - removal of the spleen, since it is impossible to sew even the slightest damage on this organ.

Diseases of the spleen

Actually, the diseases of the spleen include injuries - the symptoms of rupture of the spleen in this case can occur with very severe trauma of the abdominal cavity organs in healthy patients, and in patients who have already had pathological changes in the organ before. In the event that the patient had a direct trauma to the abdomen or lumbar region, regardless of the strength of the effect, a doctor's consultation is necessary to prevent organ rupture.

An enlarged and dense spleen, the symptoms of which developed gradually, are characteristic of her heart attack, in which a large thrombus or embolus enters the blood vessel. This condition often complicates the course of diseases of the heart and circulatory system (congenital and acquired defects, bacterial endocarditis, thrombophlebitis and varicose veins), liver diseases, infectious infections. The patient's condition largely depends on the caliber of the affected vessel - small infarctions can occur almost asymptomatically, whereas in the defeat of the splenic artery or vein, an abscess or false cyst can quickly develop. In some cases, the cause of thrombosis is the ingression of conglomerates of tumor cells into the spleen - there is a distant metastasis, and this organ can metastasize tumors of almost all localizations

Survey program

With all these symptoms, the patient should immediately seek medical help. To clarify the diagnosis, ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity organs, computer and magnetic resonance imaging, in some cases angiography of the spleen vessels is performed.