Abstract
Three cases of childhood aplastic anemia were splenectomized. One of them was improved and the other two cases were relatively improved after splenectomy. Although the bone marrow of these cases was hypocellular before splenectomy, the percentage of erythropoietic cells was 14.0% to 36.8%. A review of the literature revealed 22 documented case histories of splenectomy for childhood aplastic anemia. In this analysis about 45% of these cases appear to have been benefited by splenectomy.
Most authors suggested a gross rate of infection of 5 to 8% follwing splenectomy. In our cases no serious infection was recognized after splenectomy. Splenectomy is a possible treatment in the aplastic anemia which is refractory to any hormones and promotes moderate erythropoiesis in the bone marrow.
