1Resident, Department of Medical & Pediatric Oncology, GCRI, Ahmedabad, Gujrat, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Radiotherapy & Clinical Oncology, Swami Rama Cancer Hospital & Research Institute, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India
Online published on 31 January, 2015.
Massive splenomegaly is an important sign of some underlying systemic disease. From the history we can have a clue regarding the cause of massive splenomegaly. The most common presentation in all patients was easy fatigability though different causes can have common presentations. The cause of massive splenomegaly varies with geographical distribution.
Hematological malignancies as a cause of massive splenomegaly were more common in males (28) and in females (26), constituting about 55.5% of total cases. Portal hypertension (21.5%) is the second most common cause of massive splenomegaly. Leishmaniasis is the third most common cause of massive splenomegaly. Among the hematological cause, CML in 26 patients, followed by NHL IN 6 patients, melofibrosis in 3 patients, essential thrombocytosis in 3 patients, vitamin B12 deficiency in 2 patients, AML(1), ALL(1) and Hodgkin's disease(1).
The hematological causes were the most common cause of massive splenomegaly in our study followed by portal hypertension. Visceral leishmaniasis emerged as an important cause of massive splenomegaly in our study. Spleenic aspirate has got very good sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of visceral leishmanisis.
Massive Splenomegaly, Leishmaniasis, Easy Fatiguability, Lymphoma, Portal Hypertension
