Your spleen is in the upper left abdominal area, to the left of your stomach. In this location it’s protected by your ribs. Generally, it’s about the size of a fist and is considered part of your lymphatic system.
Spleen function is multifaceted, it acts as a filter, storage facility and recycling center. This organ’s filtering action helps clear foreign material, pathogens and worn, damaged red blood cells out of your bloodstream.
Your spleen is essentially a storage facility for 3 types of leukocytes; lymphocytes, macrophages and monocytes. Lymphocytes and macrophages destroy and engulf undesirable material for removal from passing blood. Whereas, the monocytes are deployed into the bloodstream in a large quantity to circulate out to the site of a serious health threat (e.g. heart attack, gaping wounds, overwhelming infections) to help fight or begin repairing the damage.
Finally, your spleen functions a recycling center for impaired erythrocytes it filtered out of your blood. It breaks down red blood cells into its components and recycles the iron contained in the hemoglobin.
For the most part, your spleen functions without notice. However, some health conditions can cause it to enlarge to such an extent that is causes upper left abdominal pain, for instance:
- lupus
- sarcoidosis
- amyloidosis
- cat scratch disease
- parasite infection ~ malaria
- blood cancer ~ lymphoma, leukemia
- bacteria infection ~ syphilis, brucellosis, tuberculosis
- viral infection ~ Epstein-Barr (mono), cytomegalovirus
- diseases involving liver ~ biliary atresia, cirrhosis, cystic fibrosis, sclerosing cholangitis
- blood diseases ~ hemolytic anemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, polycythemia vera, thalassemia
An enlarged spleen creates a vulnerability for it to rupture, which is an emergency because of the potential for an excessive amount internal bleeding.