Question 15 - Single Best Answer
A sixteen year old female presents to the emergency room after a motor vehicle accident. Before losing consciousness, she complained of abdominal pain localized to the left upper quadrant. The EMS staff tells you that her blood pressure had been dropping during her ride to the hospital. Because of your astute histology background, you decide to do an ultrasound and cat scan because you remember that the spleen has an open circulatory system and she may be losing blood because of a splenic fracture. Your suspicions are confirmed by the radiologist. You call the general surgeon on call because your patient has lost consciousness and her blood pressure is 70/40. From an immunological stand point, should you worry about removing the spleen of a 16 year old?
B) no
CORRECT!
CORRECT! This does not mean that the surgery itself is not risky, however. In its abscence, the liver will take over the speen's role of filtering of senescent(aged) red blood cells. The liver cannot filter bacteria, so vaccines for Haemophilus influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae can be administered.