splenectomy Huntsville AL
SPLENECTOMY
The spleen filters blood and supports the immune system, but it's possible to live a healthy life without one. Dr. Mailapur removes the spleen laparoscopically for conditions like an enlarged spleen, certain blood disorders, or traumatic injury. Most patients stay one to two nights in the hospital and need updated vaccinations afterward, since the spleen plays a role in fighting certain infections.
What the Spleen Does
The spleen sits in the upper left part of the abdomen, under the rib cage. It filters old or damaged blood cells out of circulation, helps fight certain types of infection, and stores platelets and white blood cells. It's a useful organ, but not an essential one — patients who've had their spleen removed go on to live normal, healthy lives, with some extra precautions around infection.
Why Splenectomy Is Needed
The most common reasons we remove a spleen are an enlarged spleen causing pain or at risk of rupture, certain blood disorders where the spleen is destroying healthy blood cells faster than it should, and traumatic injury to the spleen from an accident. Each of these has a different urgency: traumatic injury is often an emergency, while an enlarged spleen or blood disorder is usually addressed on a planned basis after working with your other physicians.
How Splenectomy Works
We remove the spleen laparoscopically in the large majority of cases, through several small incisions. Before a planned splenectomy, we'll make sure you're up to date on specific vaccinations, since the spleen helps protect against certain bacterial infections and that protection needs to come from somewhere else once it's removed.
Most patients stay in the hospital one to two nights and return to normal activity within two to four weeks. After surgery, you'll need to stay current on a few specific vaccinations going forward, and you should tell any future healthcare provider that you no longer have a spleen, since it changes how certain infections are managed.