SPLENECTOMY IN A CHILD WITH CHRONIC MYCOBACTERIUM-AVIUM COMPLEX INFECTION AND SPLENIC SEQUESTRATION

Mycobacterium avium complex infections (MAC) are being reported with i ncreasing frequency in immunocompromised patients. When these infectio ns become resistant to standard antibiotic therapy, treatment with int erferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) can be helpful. Pain, fever, splenic enlarge ment, and cytopenias caused by splenic sequestration developed during IFN-gamma treatment in a 9-year-old boy and were successfully treated by splenectomy. The development of IFN-gamma-induced splenic sequestra tion and cytopenias in MAC-infected patients represents a new indicati on for splenectomy. Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company.