Anatomy
• The spleen is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen beneath the 9th to 11th
ribs. The costo-diaphragmatic recess of the left pleural cavity extends as far as the
inferior border of a normal spleen.
• The spleen is intimately related to the splenic flexure of the colon, the greater
curvature of the stomach, the left kidney, and the pancreatic tail.
D:15/8/3 cm
Splenic arteries
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, Physiology
• Hemodynamic
- Portal circulation
- Volemic storage (not in humans)
- Thrombocytes
• Hematopoiesis
-From the 3rd month through 7th
-After birth lymphocytes and monocytes
• Hemolysis
• Two phases
1. Sequestration
2. Phagocytosis or extracellular destruction
• Antixenic
- Filtration
- Opsonization and phagocytosis
- Production of tuftsină, opsonina, properdina, interferon, fibronectina
- Immune response (lymphocytes)
• Metabolism
- Transfers
- Hemodistruction
- Storage
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