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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffAlthough anyone can develop an enlarged spleen at any age, children with infections such as mononucleosis are at especially high risk. So are people of African descent, who may develop splenomegaly as a complication of sickle cell disease.
People of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry are at higher risk of Gauchers disease and Niemann-Pick disease and are therefore more prone to develop an enlarged spleen. Travelers to areas where malaria is endemic also are potentially at higher risk.
- Johnson HA, et al. Massive Splenomegaly. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1989 Feb;168(2):131-7, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2911790. Accessed July 15, 2008.
- Splenomegaly. Merck Manuals Online Medical Library. November 2005, http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec14/ch179/ch179b.html. Accessed July 15, 2008.
- Patient Information for Spleen Removal (Splenectomy) from SAGES. The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Laparoscopic Surgeons, http://www.sages.org/sagespublication.php?doc=PI12.
- Chronic Myloproliferative Disorders. National Cancer Institute, http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov/templates/doc.aspx?viewid=0edcce21-e137-437f-82d6-7f81a60337e0&version=1&allpages=1. Accessed July 15, 2008.
- The Spleen. Journal of the American Medical Association. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/294/20/2660.pdf. Accessed July 15, 2008.
- Martin MB, et al. Thalassemia and the Spleen. The Cooley's Anemia Foundation. http://www.cooleysanemia.org/updates/Spleen1.pdf. Accessed July 15, 2008.
- Splenomegaly. Merck Manuals Online Medical Library, http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec11/ch138/ch138b.html. Accessed July 15, 2008.
