The spleen is an organ associated with both the circulatory and lymphatic systems. Its cells are lymph nodes and a pulp consisting of a reticular network in which red blood cells, macrophages and white blood cells are located. The organ plays an important role in the body, therefore, if it is found that the spleen is enlarged, this can be a rather 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 disease. 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 may 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, it will be more dense, painless and enlarged due to a chronic problem. If the spleen is enlarged very much, excess volume is called splenomegaly. They can occupy almost the entire abdominal cavity, squeezing and displacing the surrounding organs and affecting their functions in a negative way. Another cause of pain can be perisplenitis or an inflammatory reaction. In such a situation, an increase may not be observed.
How to determine that the spleen is enlarged?Sometimes the causes of discomfort in the body are difficult to determine. It is especially difficult to immediately deal with the disease if the spleen is enlarged in the child. Children cannot independently determine which organ hurts and describe the symptoms correctly. The first diagnostic method is questioning. The doctor must find out what diseases the person had before, what chronic infections and diseases could provoke the development of spleen tumors. The cause of the problem can be malaria, and typhoid, and syphilis, as well as endocarditis, thrombosis and diseases of the hematopoietic apparatus, such as leukemia, erythremia or jaundice, and liver problems, such as cirrhosis. If the spleen is enlarged significantly, a simple examination may be sufficient for diagnosis. In such cases, the left half of the chest begins to bulge noticeably, the organ protrudes from under the ribs. Sometimes this leads to asymmetry of the abdomen due to the rise of the left hypochondrium.
The next way to determine the problem is palpation. When the spleen is enlarged, the procedure should be carried out by laying the patient on his right side or on his back. If the doctor at all manages to find the organ during palpation, it is already possible to talk about a change in volumes. Exceptions may be cases with asthenic patients, in whom it is possible to feel the spleen of normal size - the capacity of the hypochondrium is too small.
What to do when the spleen is enlarged?
Once the increase and its causes have been identified, immediate action is needed. For infections, antibiotics recommended for a particular disease should be taken, nutrition should be monitored, and physical activity limited during exacerbations. When combining an enlarged spleen with diseases such as leukemia or tuberculosis, surgical intervention may be required according to puncture results from cells of the affected organ.