RT Book, Section
A1 Yen, Catherine
A1 Ratner, Adam J.
A2 Shah, Samir S.
SR Print(0)
ID 6912359
T1 Chapter 57. Infections in Asplenic Children
T2 Pediatric Practice: Infectious Disease
YR 2009
FD 2009
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-148924-9
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6912359
RD 2023/09/23
AB Long  thought  of  as  an  unessential  organ  that  could  be  removed  without  adverse  effects,  the  spleen  and  its  significance  in  defense  against  infections  were  not  well  recognized  until  1952,  when  King  and  Shumacker  published  a  seminal  paper  describing  an  association  between  splenectomy  and  subsequent  susceptibility  to  overwhelming  infection.1  Since  then,  severe  infection  in  asplenic  individuals  has  become  a  well-known  entity,  termed  postsplenectomy  sepsis  or  overwhelming  post-splenectomy  sepsis.  This  chapter  will  provide  an  overview  of  the  basic  functions  of  the  spleen  and  the  infectious  complications  associated  with  asplenia.