THE SEQUESTRATION OF 111-IN-LABELED AUTOLOGOUS PLATELETS AND THE EFFICIENCY OF SPLENECTOMY

The main information is the excellent correlation between the site of sequestration of autologous platelets (the use of 111-indium allows au tologous labelling even in case of severe thrombocytopenia) and the ef ficiency of splenectomy. From 76 cases with splenic sequestration stud ied 2 to 10 weeks after splenectomy, an excellent increase of the plat elet count (higher than 300 10(9)/l) was observed in 65 cases, a moder ate increase (100 - 300) in 6, a failure in 5. In contrast, in the 16 cases with hepatic sequestration, only one success did occur, and fail ure (platelet count lower than 100) occured 15 times. Beyond the 6th m onth, in spite of some relapses, the prediction remains excellent. Fro m the 67 evaluated cases with initial splenic sequestration, 58 have a platelet count higher than 100 10(9)/l. From the 14 cases with hepati c sequestration, 13 have, at long term, less than 100 10(9)/l platelet s.