title: Splenic phagocytic function in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: Splenic phagocytic function has been assessed in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. No Howell-Jolly bodies were found on blood film examination. Slow clearance times of heat damaged red cells were found in 13 of 16 patients with ulcerative colitis compared with 4 of 17 patients with Crohn's disease (P less than 0.01). For ulcerative colitis prolonged clearance times were strongly related to the length of history (r = 0.90; P less than 0.01). The prolongation of half-clearance times correlated poorly with splenic size suggesting a functional impairment of the reticuloendothelial system.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy; D002648:Child; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004908:Erythrocyte Inclusions; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010587:Phagocytosis; D013154:Spleen / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors