Asplenia

Editor-In-Chief: Prab R Tumpati, MD
Obesity, Sleep & Internal medicine
Founder, WikiMD Wellnesspedia &
W8MD's weight loss doctor NYC
Philadelphia GLP-1 weight loss and GLP-1 clinic NYC

Asplenia
Synonyms	Absence of spleen
Pronounce	N/A
Specialty	N/A
Symptoms	Increased risk of infection, particularly from encapsulated bacteria
Complications	Sepsis, pneumonia, meningitis
Onset	Congenital or acquired
Duration	Lifelong
Types	N/A
Causes	Congenital absence, surgical removal, or functional impairment
Risks	Sickle cell disease, trauma, autoimmune disorders
Diagnosis	Ultrasound, CT scan, MRI
Differential diagnosis	Hyposplenism, splenic infarction
Prevention	Vaccination, antibiotic prophylaxis
Treatment	Preventive measures, antibiotics
Medication	N/A
Prognosis	Variable, depends on preventive care
Frequency	Rare
Deaths	N/A

Asplenia means absence of the organ spleen. It can be congenital or acquired. Absence of sleep increases risk of certain infections. Spleen can also be made non-functional due to damage due to diseases such as sickle cell disease or due to trauma or surgery called splenectomy.

Vaccines to consider in asplenia

• Influenza vaccine each year to protect against seasonal flu
• Tdap vaccine to protect against whooping cough and tetanus
• Hib vaccine to protect against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) if you were not previously vaccinated with the vaccine
• Pneumococcal vaccines (both types) to protect against pneumonia and other pneumococcal disease
• Meningococcal vaccines (both types) to protect against meningitis and other meningococcal disease
• Zoster vaccine to protect against shingles if you are 60 years and older
• HPV vaccine series to protect against human papillomavirus if you are a man up to age 21 or woman up to age 26
• MMR vaccine to protect against measles, mumps, and rubella if you were born in 1957 or after and have not gotten this vaccine or do not have immunity to these diseases
• Varicella vaccine to protect against chickenpox if you were born in 1980 or after and have not gotten two doses of this vaccine or do not have immunity to this disease.
• D73.0

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