The four most important normal functions of the spleen are as follows:
- Clearance of microorganisms and particulate antigens from the blood stream
- Synthesis of immunoglobulin G (IgG), properdin (an essential component of the alternate pathway of complement activation), and tuftsin (an immunostimulatory tetrapeptide)
- Removal of abnormal red blood cells (RBCs)
- Extramedullary hematopoiesis in certain diseases
What are the main functions of the spleen?
- This is the main function of the spleen
- Healthy blood cells pass through the spleen and circulate throughout the bloodstream
- Red blood cells that are old, malformed, or damaged can't pass through and are broken down in the spleen by macrophages, which are large white blood cells that destroy unhealthy ...
Does the spleen have a vital function?
The spleen is not a vital organ, meaning that you can live without it. But it does play several very important roles in the body. It is not surprising that many people are caught “off guard” when told that there is a problem with the spleen as the symptoms are often vague.
What does spleen do for your body?
Your spleen:
- Stores blood.
- Filters blood by removing cellular waste and getting rid of old or damaged blood cells.
- Makes white blood cells and antibodies that help you fight infection.
- Maintains the levels of fluid in your body.
- Produces antibodies that protect you against infection.
What role does the spleen play in the immune system?
The cellular initiators and effectors of the adaptive splenic immune response
- Innate immune cell function and organization. Recognition of infection or host damage in the spleen activates a plethora of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) on myeloid cells, which in turn induce ...
- Adaptive immune cell function and organization. ...
- Hybrid Cells: Innate-like lymphocytes. ...
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What are the four main functions of the spleen?
FunctionStores blood.Filters blood by removing cellular waste and getting rid of old or damaged blood cells.Makes white blood cells and antibodies that help you fight infection.Maintains the levels of fluid in your body.Produces antibodies that protect you against infection.
What are the symptoms of spleen problems?
An enlarged spleen typically causes no signs or symptoms, but sometimes it causes: Pain or fullness in the left upper belly that can spread to the left shoulder. A feeling of fullness without eating or after eating a small amount because the spleen is pressing on your stomach. Low red blood cells (anemia)
What are 3 interesting facts about the spleen?
Here are some more facts you probably didn't know about your spleen.Your spleen has three blood-related functions. ... Your spleen is made of two tissues called white pulp and red pulp. ... Mononucleosis (the “kissing disease”) is one of the infections that can enlarge your spleen.More items...•
What are 3 diseases that affect the spleen?
Disorders of the spleen include splenomegaly, hypersplenism and splenic rupture.
Where do you feel spleen pain?
Spleen pain is usually felt as a pain behind your left ribs. It may be tender when you touch the area. This can be a sign of a damaged, ruptured or enlarged spleen.
What foods heal the spleen?
So what can I eat to strengthen the Spleen?Meat: poultry, lamb, beef, venison.Fish: trout, salmon, tuna, shellfish.Fruit: apples, apricots, dates, figs, sweet cherries, peach, plums, red grapes, dried fruit such as raisins.Veggies: cabbage, pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato.Grains: amaranth, oats, millet, polenta, rice.More items...•
What happens if your spleen is removed?
Life without a spleen After splenectomy, other organs in your body take over most of the functions previously performed by your spleen. You can be active without a spleen, but you're at increased risk of becoming sick or getting serious infections. This risk is highest shortly after surgery.
Can you live without spleen?
You can live without a spleen. But because the spleen plays a crucial role in the body's ability to fight off bacteria, living without the organ makes you more likely to develop infections, especially dangerous ones such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Haemophilus influenzae.
What does pain from the spleen feel like?
Spleen pain is usually felt as a pain behind your left ribs. It may be tender when you touch the area. This can be a sign of a damaged, ruptured or enlarged spleen.
How do you check your spleen at home?
Palpation for splenic enlargement should begin with the patient supine and with knees flexed. Using the right hand, the examiner should begin well below the left costal margin and feel gently but firmly for the splenic edge by pushing down, then cephalad, then releasing (Figure 150.1).
How can you tell if your spleen is enlarged?
AdvertisementBlood tests, such as a complete blood count to check the number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets in your system and liver function.Ultrasound or CT scan to help determine the size of your spleen and whether it's crowding other organs.MRI to trace blood flow through the spleen.
Can your spleen hurt in your back?
You may not have any symptoms from an enlarged spleen. However, you may: Feel a kind of dull pain on the left side of the abdomen or in your back.
Why is the spleen important?
Unlike organs that are noticed every day, such as the skin, most people never think about the spleen unless it becomes damaged by trauma. While the spleen is not as well known as other organs, it performs multiple important functions. The spleen participates in the creation of blood cells and also helps to filter out the blood, ...
Why is it important to remove the spleen after surgery?
While the spleen is a little-known organ, it often becomes the cause of significant worry and excitement after a car accident or other incident that leads to bleeding. In these cases, it is customary to remove the spleen, so the loss of blood can be stopped. For many, aside from being advised to have more vaccines than other individuals might, the end of the recovery from surgery is the last time they are concerned about their spleen.
What organs are involved in the fight against infection?
While the spleen is useful and does perform vital tasks, other organs in the body also work to filter the blood and fight infection, and blood cells are mainly produced in the bones. It is this overlap in duties makes it possible for the spleen to be removed without causing lasting harm to the individual.
What happens when your spleen expands?
As a spleen becomes enlarged, it becomes more fragile and is more likely to be damaged in an accident.
What is the procedure to remove the spleen?
In some cases, when there is no other option, a splenectomy, the surgical procedure to remove the spleen, is performed. The spleen can also become enlarged, stretching over time, until it becomes unable to function. It can expand over time from normal size (which is approximately the size of a small chicken breast) to the size ...
Can you have a fever without a spleen?
It is important that a person without a spleen not ignore early signs of infection, such as a fever, as the body is more likely to require antibiotics to fight infection effectively. In general, the person without a spleen will go on to have a healthy life. That said, an individual without a spleen will always have a greater risk ...
Is it possible to live without a spleen?
While most people are somewhat healthier with a spleen, it is absolutely possible to have a normal life without a spleen. So the spleen is important but it isn't essential.
What is the function of the spleen?
The spleen also stores red blood cells, platelets, and infection-fighting white blood cells. The spleen plays an important role in your immune system response. When it detects bacteria, viruses, or other germs in your blood, it produces white blood cells, called lymphocytes, to fight off these infections.
Why is the spleen important?
Though your spleen isn’t a large organ, it plays many important roles in your body. It helps remove old and damaged blood cells, and it produces infection-fighting cells to protect your health. The spleen also makes certain substances that have an important role in inflammation and healing.
What causes a spleen to be enlarged?
Other conditions that cause an enlarged spleen include: bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections such as syphilis, tuberculosis, endo carditis, mononucleosis (mono), and malaria. blood cancers such as Hodgkin’s disease, leukemia, and lymphoma. liver diseases like cirrhosis. hemolytic anemia.
How does the spleen affect blood?
It does this by breaking down and removing cells that are abnormal, old, or damaged. The spleen also stores red blood cells, platelets, and infection-fighting white blood cells.
What is the lymphatic system?
The lymphatic system helps remove cellular waste, maintain fluid balance, and make and activate infection-fighting white blood cells for the immune system. It’s also responsible for making substances that play an important role in inflammation and healing. Trusted Source. .
Why can't my spleen filter blood?
metabolic disorders like Gaucher’s disease and Niemann-Pick disease. When your spleen enlarges, it can’t filter your blood as efficiently as it once did. It may accidentally filter out normal red blood cells and platelets, leaving fewer healthy blood cells in your body.
Why does the spleen enlarge?
Many different conditions can cause the spleen to enlarge, especially diseases that cause blood cells to break down too quickly. An excess destruction of blood cells, for example, can overwork the spleen, and cause it to enlarge.
What is the structure of the spleen?
Structure. In adults, the spleen is a purple organ that is about the size of a clenched fist. It’s covered in visceral peritoneum, a smooth membrane that’s composed of two layers of cells, which secrete fluid and serve a protective function. 1 There is, however, an opening in this membrane called the hilum of the spleen, ...
What are the two types of tissues in the spleen?
Notably, the spleen is composed of two types of tissues: white pulp and red pulp. The former of these is associated with white blood cell production and is made up of structures called periarteriolar lymphoid sheaths (PALS) and lymphatic nodules.
How to detect inflammation in spleen?
Physical examination: In some cases of splenomegaly, doctors can actually detect inflammation by touch. Blood testing: Since splenic activity is intimately connected to red and white blood cell levels—as well as the presence of antibodies—blood tests are an early line assessment of spleen activity.
Why is the spleen enlarged?
Clinically, the spleen can become enlarged (a condition called splenomegaly) due to a range of conditions, including cancer, pressure from the veins, as well as bacterial or viral infections. Furthermore, this organ has a relatively high incidence of injury; depending on the scope of the issue, removal surgery called splenectomy may be required. 1
What causes a wandering spleen?
3 This can occur congenitally due to the absence or malformation of the ligaments that anchor it in position. It may also occur due to pregnancy or muscular dystrophy (a condition characterized by deterioration of the muscles) and is associated with a range of other conditions, including Hodgkin lymphoma (a cancer of parts of the immune system).
What is the function of the red pulp?
In turn, the red pulp—composed of wide blood vessels called splenic sinusoids—works to filter blood and store elements that help repair injuries. 2 These tissues are separated by a marginal zone, a membrane border that also serves a filtering function.
Which organ produces antibodies?
In its white pulp, the spleen produces white blood cells (WBCs), and synthesizes antibodies, making it essential to immune function. In particular, this tissue is the site of lymphocyte production (white blood cells that are deeply involved in immune function) that make up the antibodies. 1 .
Why is the spleen important?
Your spleen is a small but important organ. It works hard to fight infection, remove old or damaged blood cells and keep fluids moving through your body. Many disorders, infections, injuries and diseases can cause problems in the spleen.
What is the spleen?
The spleen is a small organ inside your left rib cage, just above the stomach. It’s part of the lymphatic system (which is part of the immune system). The spleen stores and filters blood and makes white blood cells that protect you from infection. Many diseases and conditions can affect how the spleen works. A ruptured (torn) spleen can be fatal.
Why does my spleen feel so big?
Splenomegaly is a dangerous condition because the spleen can rupture (tear) or bleed.
Why is splenomegaly dangerous?
Splenomegaly is a dangerous condition because the spleen can rupture (tear) or bleed. The spleen can become enlarged from: Blood cancers, such as leukemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cancer in other parts of the body that metastasize (spread) to the spleen. Blood clots in the spleen or the liver.
Why do they remove the spleen?
Sometimes, healthcare providers perform surgery to remove the spleen (splenectomy) because it’s damaged or diseased. Without the spleen, the liver takes over many of the spleen’s duties. Splenectomy is also a treatment for different types of thrombocytopenia, including immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).
What are the two parts of the spleen?
There are two parts of the spleen. They each do different jobs. The types of tissue in the spleen are: White pulp: As part of the immune system, the white pulp produces white blood cells. These blood cells make antibodies. Antibodies fight infection. Red pulp: The red pulp acts like a filter.
What happens when your spleen doesn't work?
Protein disorders like amyloidosis. Functional asplenia: This condition happens when your spleen doesn’t work as it should. It may overreact (hypersplenism) and destroy healthy red blood cells. Destroying too many blood cells can increase the risk of infection and lead to bruising and bleeding.
What Is the Purpose of a Spleen?
As you've seen, your spleen is often on the "front lines" of your body; in fact, your spleen is a busy organ – especially considering its small size.
Why is the spleen important?
Your spleen also plays an important part in your immune system, which helps your body fight infection. Just as it detects faulty red blood cells, your spleen can pick out any unwelcome micro-organisms (like bacteria or viruses) in your blood.
Why is the spleen used as a synonym for anger?
This is because in medieval times, the spleen was thought to be the literal, physical source of a hot temper. People thought that "venting" their spleens would remove excess anger.
Why do people use the word "venting spleen"?
Although most people have spleens, we don't often think about the way they function as organs in our bodies. You may have heard people use the phrase "venting spleen" – not referring to the body part itself, but as a way to describe letting out anger or frustration. The word "spleen" has come to be used metaphorically as a synonym for "anger". This is because in medieval times, the spleen was thought to be the literal, physical source of a hot temper. People thought that "venting" their spleens would remove excess anger. Fortunately, we have learned a lot since then about the spleen's purpose in our bodies.
What is the function of macrophages in the spleen?
Macrophages are large white blood cells that specialize in destroying these unhealthy red blood cells. Always economical, your spleen saves any useful components from the old cells, such as iron.
Why does the spleen balloon?
This is because your spleen is highly vascular organ; it contains many vessels that carry and circulate fluids in your body.
How does the spleen hold up to blood?
When vessels are expanded, your spleen can actually hold up to a cup of reserve blood. If for any reason you need some extra blood – for example, if trauma causes you to lose blood – your spleen can respond by releasing that reserve blood back into your system.
Society and culture
- The spleen is one of the least understood organs of the human body. Unlike organs that are noticed every day, such as the skin, most people never think about the spleen unless it becomes damaged by trauma.
Health
- The spleen is rarely the cause of health issues so it is often overlooked when talking about wellness and prevention of illness. The spleen does contribute to overall good health, but it is also not an essential organ, which is important because it can be fragile and may need to be surgically removed.
Function
- The spleen works with other organs in the body to complete the tasks of blood storage, fighting infection and filtering the blood. While the spleen is useful and does perform vital tasks, other organs in the body also work to filter the blood and fight infection, and blood cells are mainly produced in the bones. As the spleen is not the only organ ...
Clinical significance
- The spleen holds reserve blood in case of significant bleeding, much like a blood-filled balloon, and acts as a reserve source of extra blood. In a trauma situation, particularly a severe car crash where an individual is wearing a seat belt, the force of impact can actually cause the spleen to rupture and begin to hemorrhage blood. The spleen has a high amount of blood flow, which can …
Risks
- The risks of contracting an infection are highest in the first two years following surgery. Individuals who have had their spleen removed will need to tell healthcare providers that their spleen is absent, as they will always be at higher risk for infection. It is important that a person without a spleen not ignore early signs of infection, such as a fever, as the body is more likely to …
Prevention
- In general, the person without a spleen will go on to have a healthy life. That said, an individual without a spleen will always have a greater risk of contracting pneumonia and reduced effectiveness of vaccines. Vaccines may need to be given more frequently, particularly the pneumonia vaccine, to prevent serious illness. A meningitis vaccine should also be considered a…