Bangalore: In a rare surgery the Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital  Mysore road, Bangalore doctors have removed a spleen that had grown to the tune of 4 kgs.
“The patient is a 40-year-old lady, who came into the hospital complaining of severe pain in the abdomen and severe loss of appetite,” said Dr Venkatesh, Associate Professor of Surgery, Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital.
Initially the doctors had thought it was a case of severe malaria but we later realized that it was lymphoma of the spleen. It is a very rare condition with only 1% of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
“There is no exact reason why people get this disease, it is like cancer, there is no reason for it. But the spleen has to weigh 150 gms but for this patient it weighed 4 kgs and a spleenectomy was performed for over 3 hours,” says Venkatesh.
This is a type of malignancy of the spleen. Here at Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital this procedure was done free of cost. The patient had to pay only for the medicines.
The spleen is an organ that creates lymphocytes for the destruction and recycling of old red-blood cells in our body. The spleen is also a blood reservoir. It supplies the body with blood in emergencies such as a bad cut. The spleen is also the location where white blood cells trap organisms. The spleen is located in the upper-left part of our abdomen. It is protected by our rib cage.
The spleen is shaped like a loose fist and is tucked under the left side of the diaphragm. The average weight of an adult spleen is 0.44 lbs. During and after digestion, the size of the spleen increases. Infection of malaria or mono can also cause the spleen to increase in size.