About Spleens

As we learn more and more about the workings of the human body, of necessity most attention has gone to the most vital organs, such as the heart and lungs. While it's not exactly a necessary organ, the spleen does several jobs at once, all of them vital to the smooth functioning of the body. It's also important to know about the spleen because it's easily hurt if you receive an abdominal injury and because an enlarged spleen can be a symptom of an underlying condition.

Identification

The spleen sits behind the stomach on the left side of the body. It is about the size of a fist, and is full of spongy, pulpy tissue. There are two types of this spleen tissue: red pulp and white pulp. The red pulp functions as a cleaning service for your blood, where white blood cells called phagocytes destroy invaders, like bacteria, viruses and fungi. The red pulp also gets rid of old or abnormal red blood cells. The white pulp is part of the immune system. It makes another type of white blood cells, called lymphocytes. These cells produce antibodies.

Injury

Because of its position in the abdomen, the spleen is likely to be harmed in the case of trauma to the abdomen, such as injuries from beatings, falls, sports mishaps or car crashes. Blood can leak out from the spleen or can be trapped under the membrane around the spleen, creating a hematoma. Symptoms of a spleen injury include abdominal and left shoulder pain and rigid stomach muscles. In severe cases, patients feel dizzy, have blurry vision, are confused and lose consciousness. Depending on the size of the injury to the spleen, a surgeon may attempt to repair the gash or remove the spleen entirely.

Illness

If the spleen traps too many blood cells, it can grow enlarged. An enlarged spleen is a relatively common experience, as it's a symptom of a host of underlying conditions. An enlarged spleen can indicate anemia, infection, certain types of cancer, cirrhosis or lupus. Enlarged spleens usually aren't especially painful. Symptoms include pain in the left shoulder or back or a feeling of fullness as the enlarged spleen presses against the stomach. Treating the underlying condition can help ease the swelling, but the spleen may need to be removed if it's grown very large, parts of it have died or are bleeding, or if it's trapping so many blood cells that the patient is at risk of uncontrollable bleeding, severe anemia or infection.

Removal

The spleen isn't like your heart or your lungs---you can live without one. If part of the spleen is removed, it will regenerate, but if you need a total spleen removal (called a splenectomy), other organs, such as the liver, will pick up the slack and keep cleaning your blood and producing antibodies. However, if you don't have a spleen, you are more susceptible to infection. People without spleens may need special vaccinations and may have to take antibiotics more often.

History

In the days of the ancient Greeks, medical practice was based on the idea that there were four "humors" in the human body. One of these humors, "black bile," came from the spleen (the spleen does not actually produce bile, but the ancient Greeks had some interesting ideas about anatomy). People who had too much black bile in their bodies were melancholy and irritable. While we now have a better understanding of the spleen's function, the connection between the spleen and sad, angry emotions persists in language, when we say that an angry person is "venting their spleen" or "splenetic."