Asplenia
congenital disorder
Asplenia is the absence of normal spleen function and is associated with some serious infection risks. Hyposplenism is the condition of reduced ('hypo-'), but not absent, splenic functioning.
Functional asplenia occurs when splenic tissue is present but does not work well (e.g., sickle-cell disease, polysplenia) – such patients are managed as if asplenic – while in anatomic asplenia, the spleen itself is absent.
Causes
Congenital
Congenital asplenia is rare. There are two distinct types of genetic disorders: heterotaxy syndrome and isolated congenital asplenia.
polysplenia
Acquired
Acquired asplenia occurs for several reasons:
Following splenectomy due to splenic rupture from trauma or because of tumor
After splenectomy with the goal of interfering with splenic function, as a treatment for diseases (e.g., idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, thalassemia, spherocytosis), in which the spleen's usual activity exacerbates the disease
After splenectomy with the goal of arresting the progression of cancers (Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin's disease (starting in the 1970s), non-Hodgkin lymphoma)
Due to underlying diseases that destroy the spleen (autosplenectomy), e.g. sickle-cell disease.
Celiac disease: unknown physiopathology. In a 1970 study, it was the second most common cause of abnormalities of red blood cells linked to hyposplenism, after surgical splenectomy.
Functional asplenia
Functional asplenia can occur when patients with metabolic or haematological disorders have their splenic tissue organisation altered.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Asplenia” as congenital disorder. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q737712. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1970.
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This entry incorporates text from “Asplenia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.