Re: Info on Spleen Treatments

[Guest guest]

Tim, I had anemia and splenomegaly from Margina Zone Lymphoma

and was treated with Rituxan with good results. No other

medication and the spleen back to normal and blood count

normal.

> Would appreciate if fellow list members would let me know

> what your Drs diagnosed as the cause of your splenomegaly

> (for those who went through this), and what your Dr did to

> treat it: e.g., a particular chemoimmunotherapy regimen,

> special medications specific to the splenomegaly, or

> partial/full splenectomy.

>

> Am particularly interested in the meds and agents used in

> your case. Would also like to know if your splenomegaly

> was CLL-associated, or an autoimmune complication.

>

> Finally, did your splenomegaly cause or was it complicated

> by anemia and/or thrombocytopenia.

>

> Happy to take responses on-list or directly.

>

> Thanks,

> Tim

>

[Guest guest]

Just to confuse everything, anything can occur. Typically,

when CLL causes a spleen to enlarge, it can start trapping

red cells and platelets. Often, poor marrow reserve also

impacts upon the ability of the body to keep up. In immune

mediated destruction, the spleen is usually normal in size,

but ITP or AIHA can occur in a spleen enlarged by CLL or

just enlarge by the autoimmune disease. The treatments are

different depending upon what is seen. A bone marrow biopsy

is often the best means for distinguishing all of these.

Rick Furman