Is there a correlation between degree of splenomegaly, symptoms and hypersplenism? A study of 218 patients with Gaucher disease

Despite the prevalence of splenomegaly as a sign in many disorders, there h ave been no studies that correlate the degree of organomegaly with the symp toms generally ascribed to splenic enlargement. The degree of splenomegaly was compared with five overt symptoms of mechanical displacement, i.e. chro nic abdominal pain, abdominal discomfort, early satiety, pain while lying o n the side, or attacks of acute (colicky) left upper quadrant pains. We har e also employed splenomegaly as seen in Gaucher disease as a paradigm to de termine whether there is a correlation between the degree of splenomegaly a nd the parameters of hypersplenism. Although there was a statistically sign ificant correlation between degree of splenomegaly and brood counts, this p roved to be clinically negligible. Surprisingly, there was also no correlat ion between degree of splenomegaly and any of symptoms investigated.