title: Long term effect of splenectomy on patients operated on for cancer of the left colon: a retrospective study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find out if accidental splenectomy during colonic resection influences the survival of patients with colon cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective clinical study.
  
  
  METHODS
  University hospital, Greece.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five patients with colonic cancer (13 Dukes' B and 12 Dukes' C) who had accidental splenectomy during resection of the left colon (n = 22) or the sigmoid (n = 3) between 1973 and 1990. Each study patient was matched with control patients for age, sex, Dukes' stage, grade, site of tumour, date, type of operation and number of blood transfusions.
  
  
  METHODS
  The five year actuarial and disease free survival estimated by the Kaplan-Meier product limit method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significantly more infective postoperative complications (6/25 compared with 0/25, p = 0.02) in patients who had a splenectomy. The incidence of metastases (p = 0.07) and the five-year disease free (p = 0.08) and overall survival (p = 0.1) were lower but not significantly so in patients who had a splenectomy compared with controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Splenectomy significantly increases the number of infective postoperative complications in patients with colonic cancer. Although there was a trend for shorter disease-free survival after splenectomy, it seems that splenectomy had no impact on survival.
authors.affiliation: 1st Propaedeutic Department of Surgery, University of Athens, Hippokration General Hospital of Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Konstadoulakis
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Kymionis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leandros
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ricaniadis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manouras
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Krespis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alexiou
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Androulakis
mesh_terms: D000206:Actuarial Analysis; D000368:Aged; D003082:Colectomy; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013156:Splenectomy; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate