Blood, 1972, Vol. 40, No. 5, pp. 678-683.
© 1972 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
The Splenic Platelet Reservoir in Sickle Cell Anemia
Allen D. Schwartz 1
1 Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine and the Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn.
The presence of hypersplenism and
functional asplenia occurring concomitantly in a child with sickle cell anemia
prompted a study of the splenic platelet reservoir in this hemoglobinopathy.
The young child with sickle cell anemia
and a large spleen, who is unable to
remove Howell-Jolly bodies, concentrate 99mTc sulfur colloid in his spleen,
or respond to intravenous particulate
antigen, retains the splenic reservoir
function to pool platelets. This reservoir function is lost in the older patient
in whom the spleen has become autoinfarcted. Thus, an independence of
certain splenic functions is present in
young children with sickle cell anemia
who have splenomegaly.
Submitted on February 29, 1972
Revised on June 2, 1972
Accepted on June 11, 1972
