Splenectomy as treatment for nonhealing soft tissue defect after total knee arthroplasty in a patient with Felty's syndrome.
We describe the apparent remarkable effect of splenectomy on wound healing in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis and Felty's syndrome. The patient had previously undergone a knee replacement with 4 months of failure of the surgical wound site to heal or close. The wound, which had broken down and dehisced on 3 separate occasions after plastic surgical attempts at closure, healed cleanly and without recurrence within 3 weeks of splenectomy and plastic repair at the same operation.
Campbell
D A
DA
Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville.
Corman
L C
LC
Williams
R C
RC
D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000601:surgery; D005258:Felty Syndrome / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007720:Knee Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013156:Splenectomy; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*