Elective laparoscopic splenectomy: A single-center experience and results

INTRODUCTION: Studies have shown that laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) is effective, safe, and also more advantages to open surgery with relatively fewer complications and improved patient outcomes. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the pre-operative, peroperative, and post operative patient data, pre-operative diagnoses, and patient demographics of our center experience.
METHODS: Between January 2017 and December 2020, 106 patients underwent total or partial splenectomy for traumatic or non-traumatic reasons. Elective LS was performed on 25 patients in our clinic between these dates. Twenty-three of these patients finished with laparoscopically were evaluated in this study.
RESULTS: Of the 23 patients who underwent LS, 7 (30.4%) were male, 16 (69.6%) were female, and the mean age was 33.7±12.24. Splenectomy indications are shown in Table 1. The most common indication for surgery in our series was idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and the second most was hereditary spherocytosis. The mean operative time was 145±40 min. An abdominal drain was placed in all patients. The drains were removed in an average of 1.4 (1–2) days postoperatively. The blood loss during the operation was 60±15 ml. The mean post-operative hospital stay was 3.17±0.71 days. Post-operative wound infection was observed in the incision in which the piece was removed in four patients. All wound infections resolved with drainage, wound dressing, and antibiotics.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: LS is a method that can be safely performed by experienced surgeons. Laparoscopy should be the first choice if possible in elective benign conditions of the spleen, especially if the spleen size is not too large.