At the Surgeons Group of Baton Rouge, our team is proud to provide advanced, patient-centered care for a variety of spleen conditions. Surgery is a major life event, so we offer minimally invasive procedures when possible, which helps our patients enjoy shorter recovery periods, less pain, and a decreased risk of infection at the surgical site.
The spleen is an organ in the abdomen about the size of a fist. It plays an important role in the immune system, filtering blood and removing bacteria, aged blood cells, antibody-coated cells and damaged cells. The spleen is incredibly important in the body’s response to an acute infection because it contains infection-fighting white blood cells.
Though it serves an important role, your doctor may recommend removal for several reasons, such as illness or injury. In this case, the liver can take over many of the spleen’s functions, though living without a spleen can put you at higher risk of infections. Your doctor will recommend certain vaccines and other treatments to help improve your body’s ability to fight infection.
The removal of the spleen, known as a splenectomy, may be needed due to conditions including hypersplenism, symptomatic splenomegaly, blood disorders and malignancy such as lymphoma.
Removal can involve robotic and laparoscopic techniques, though an open splenectomy may be recommended for certain cases.
In a robotic or laparoscopic splenectomy, small incisions are made in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. A laparoscopic camera is inserted to provide a magnified visual of the abdominal cavity and offer surgeons the ability to make precise manipulations of the spleen, blood vessels and other attachments. Once the spleen is separated, it is placed into a bag and removed through one of the small incision sites. The sites are closed with dissolvable sutures and, occasionally, a drain is left in place for about a week to monitor for drainage.
After surgery, patients may remain in the hospital for 1 to 3 days depending on the complexity of the procedure. Recovery may include some abdominal soreness and discomfort as well as pain at the incision sites. Most patients will need to rest at home for 2 to 3 weeks and avoid strenuous activities for about 4 weeks.
Our fellowship-trained surgeons are proud to provide compassionate, patient-centered care. Whether a patient is eligible for a minimally invasive procedure or requires open surgery, our team is ready and able to help.
Their training in minimally invasive procedures allows them to offer surgical solutions that benefit the patient through:
We don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to gastric surgery. Our surgeons collaborate as part of a team, which means they discuss different surgical solutions to find the most effective option for each patient. Additionally, several of our surgeons are affiliated with Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Institute, which allows for streamlined cancer care (both surgical and non-surgical) for our oncology patients.
Contact the Surgeons Group of Baton Rouge to discuss your surgical treatment options.
