Ectopic splenic tissue failed to prevent fatal pneumococcal septicaemia after splenectomy for trauma

Despite heterotopic splenic tissue, fatal fulminating pneumococcal septicaemia occurred in 2 patients who had had splenectomy for trauma. A girl aged 12 who died 8 years after splenectomy had over a hundred nodules, the largest weighing 3 g. A man of 19 who died 9 years after splenectomy had splenic tissue weighing 92 g. The presence of splenic tissue did not itself protect these patients from overwhelming infection and its ectopic situation with the consequent alteration in blood-supply may be of greater importance than the amount of splenic tissue present.