SPLENECTOMY IN PATIENTS WITH UNDIAGNOSED SPLENOMEGALY

Of splenectomies performed in the Cork Regional Hospital over an 11 ye ar period, ten were undertaken primarily for diagnostic purposes. A de finitive histological diagnosis was established in nine patients, seve n of whom had lymphoma, two with Hodgkin's disease and five with non-H odgkin's lymphoma. The weight of the excised spleen in all patients wi th lymphoma exceeded 1 kg; in all those with a diagnosis other than ly mphoma, the spleen weighed less than 1 kg. A majority of patients also had symptomatic improvement from reversal of hypersplenism and from r elief of the mechanical pressure effects of an enlarged spleen. Operat ive mortality was zero. Diagnostic splenectomy is a worthwhile procedu re. Most patients will have lymphoma.