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POSTSPLENECTOMY INFECTIONS IN DANISH CHILDREN SPLENECTOMIZED 1969–1978
Author(s) -
PEDERSEN F. KARUP
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1983.tb09776.x
Subject(s) - medicine , splenectomy , thrombocytopenic purpura , hereditary spherocytosis , meningitis , pediatrics , spherocytosis , streptococcus pneumoniae , incidence (geometry) , pneumococcal infections , danish , purpura fulminans , surgery , spleen , platelet , antibiotics , linguistics , physics , philosophy , optics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
. During the 10‐year period 1969–1978 456 splenectomies in children 0–15 years old were registered in Denmark. The underlying disease in 56% was traumatic splenic rupture, in 20% hereditary spherocytosis, in 13% idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and in 11% various other diseases. Three hundred and eighty‐four (84%) could be followed retrospectively for a mean period of 6.2 years after splenectomy. Twenty‐one (5.5%) contracted bacteraemia or meningitis, in 15 (71%) caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae , and 6 (1.6%) died from the infection. The frequency of postsplenectomy infection (PSI) was lower in children with splenic rupture (2.5%) than in those with hereditary spherocytosis (4.9%), idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (11.5%) and Hodgkin's disease (13.8%). Sixteen percent of children splenectomized before the age of 4 years versus 4% above that age developed PSI. Ninety‐five percent of the PSI cases occurred less than 6 years after splenectomy. The incidence of severe pneumococcal bacteraemia and pneumococcal meningitis in the splenectomized was 284 times that of non‐splenectomized children.