Splenic Atrophy in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Five of 70 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus seen over a 5-yr period had peripheral blood films suggestive of hyposplenism. 99mTc-S colloid scans showed no splenic activity in 3 patients. One of these 3 patients, who had a spontaneous remission of persistent thrombocytopenia concurrent with the appearance of functional asplenia, had splenic atrophy shown by computed tomography; a 2nd patient who died of pneumococcal septicemia was shown to have splenic atrophy with lymphocyte depletion at autopsy. The development of functional asplenia in the 3rd patient has not, to date, had any obvious effect on her disease. In the 2 patients with normal scans, blood film findings returned to normal with treatment of the underlying disease. Polyvalent pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for patients with lupus erythematosus who have splenic atrophy.