What if your spleen is enlarged?

The spleen is an organ associated with both the circulatory system and the lymphatic system. Its cells are lymph nodes and a pulp consisting of a reticular network in which are located erythrocytes, macrophages and leukocytes. The organ plays an important role in the body, so if it is found that the spleen is enlarged, this can be quite an alarming symptom. Diagnosis and treatment should be entrusted to qualified specialists.

Why is the spleen enlarged?

The reasons for the increase in the volume of internal organs are most often hidden in any diseases. The same situation applies to the spleen. A small increase may be due to the accumulation of blood in its tissues, the deposition of various substances or the growth of individual elements. Depending on why the spleen is enlarged, it can be soft or dense. In the first case, the organ will be painful and, as a rule, affected by the infectious process, and in the second - more dense, painless and enlarged due to a chronic problem. If the spleen is enlarged very much, the excess volume is called splenomegaly. They can occupy almost the entire abdominal cavity, squeezing and shifting the surrounding organs and acting on their functions in a negative way. Another cause of pain may be perisplenit or an inflammatory reaction. In such a situation, the increase may not be observed.

How to determine if the spleen is enlarged?

Sometimes the cause of discomfort in the body is difficult to determine. It is especially difficult to immediately deal with the disease if the spleen is enlarged in the child. Children can not decide for themselves which organ it hurts, and describe the symptoms correctly. The first method of diagnosis is questioning. The doctor should find out what diseases the person had before, what chronic infections and diseases could provoke the development of spleen tumors. Malaria, and typhoid, and syphilis, as well as endocarditis, thromboses and diseases of the hematopoietic system, such as leukemia, erythremia or jaundice, and liver problems, for example cirrhosis, can become a cause of the problem. If the spleen is significantly enlarged, a simple examination may be sufficient for diagnosis. In such cases, the left half of the rib cage begins to stick out noticeably, the organ protrudes from under the ribs. Sometimes this leads to asymmetry of the abdomen due to the elevation of the left hypochondrium. The next way to determine the problem is palpation. When the spleen is enlarged, the procedure should be carried out, laying the patient on the right side or on the back. If the doctor in general manages to grope the organ during palpation, you can already talk about the change in volume. Exceptions may be cases with asthenic patients who can grope and spleen normal size - the capacity of hypochondria in them is too small.

What to do when the spleen is enlarged?

Once the increase and its causes have been determined, immediate measures must be taken. When infections need to take the recommended antibiotic for a particular disease, monitor diet and limit physical activity for the time of exacerbation. When the enlarged spleen is combined with diseases such as leukemia or tuberculosis, surgical intervention may be required based on the results of puncture of the cells of the affected organ.