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)
If you're very slim, it may be possible for you to feel your enlarged spleen through your skin. A common symptom of an enlarged spleen is a feeling of pain or discomfort in the upper left side of abdomen, where the spleen is located. You might also experience a feeling of fullness after only eating a small amount.
Palpation is performed by standing on the patient's right side and reaching over with the left hand to support the rib cage. Place your right hand just below the costal margin, leaving enough room to detect an enlarged spleen, and depressing the hand inward and upward to locate the splenic edge.
feeling full very quickly after eating (an enlarged spleen can press on the stomach) feeling discomfort or pain behind your left ribs. anaemia and fatigue. frequent infections.
In the past, treatment for a spleen injury always meant removal of the entire organ, called a splenectomy. However, doctors now say that some spleen injuries can heal on their own, particularly those that are not very severe.
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.
An enlarged spleen can be caused by infections, cirrhosis and other liver diseases, blood diseases characterized by abnormal blood cells, problems with the lymph system, or other conditions. Other causes of an enlarged spleen include: Inflammatory diseases such as sarcoidosis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Blood 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.
Some common causes of spleen pain include infections such as mono or pneumonia, autoimmune conditions such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, metabolic disorders such as diabetes, or liver diseases such as hepatitis.
In people with leukemia, cancerous blood cells can enter the spleen and other organs through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system. These abnormal blood cells replicate out of control and can cause the spleen to swell.
A doctor usually can't feel the spleen in an adult unless it's enlarged. Imaging and blood tests can help identify the cause of an enlarged spleen.
Symptoms of an Enlarged Spleen
People may also have abdominal or back pain in the area of the spleen in the upper left part of the abdomen or the left side of the back. The pain may spread to the left shoulder, especially if parts of the spleen do not get enough blood and start to die.
Disorders of the spleen include splenomegaly, hypersplenism and splenic rupture.
The fever usually drops in 10 days, and swollen lymph glands and spleen heal in 4 weeks.
An enlarged left lobe of the liver, a left upper quadrant mass, or a splenic hematoma may be mistaken for splenomegaly.
If you notice increased pain in the area of your spleen or your left shoulder, especially if it's worse when you breathe in, seek medical attention right away. A rupture is more likely to happen after an impact to your abdomen, but sometimes it happens by itself.
Depending on the extent of your injury and treatment, it may take anywhere from three to 12 weeks to recover.
Your spleen also sits in the left side of your body, near your rib cage. This organ is an important part of your immune system. It produces white blood cells that fight infection, and it processes other parts of your blood.
Your diet, overall health, and spleen health
For example, a diet high in ultra-processed foods like fast food, soda, and packaged snack foods can increase the risk of conditions associated with an enlarged spleen, such as NAFLD or obesity ( 15 , 16 , 17 ).
If you have an enlarged spleen, a less forceful trauma might cause rupture. Without emergency treatment, the internal bleeding caused by a ruptured spleen can be life-threatening.
“Stress appears to prompt the release of stem cells from the bone marrow to the spleen, where they develop into white blood cells, or monocytes, and expand over time,” Godbout said. “Then the spleen becomes a reservoir of inflammatory cells.”
Pain in your upper left abdomen under your ribs can have a variety of causes. There are several important organs in this area, including the: spleen kidney pancreas stomach colon lung. Life threatening causes include heart attack. Pain in your upper left abdomen under your ribs can have a variety of causes.
The most common causes of spleen cancer are lymphomas and leukemias. On occasion, other cancers, such as breast, lung, stomach, pancreatic, liver, or colon, are the source of the malignancy. There is a type of cancer that develops in the spleen.
Being part lymphatic system, the spleen is like a large lymph node that filters blood as well as lymph. When sleeping on your left side, gravity assists drainage back to the spleen, helping detoxify the body.
The most common infection associated with spleen enlargement is "mono" or mononucleosis, caused by the Epstein Barr virus. Also, outside the United States, malaria is a major cause of splenomegaly. Cancer: The spleen is considered a lymph organ, and can be involved in lymphomas (cancer of the lymphatic system).