[Sickle cell anemia and functional asplenia (author's transl)]

On the occasion of 34 spleen scintigrams performed in children with sickle cell anemia, the frequency and precocity of the "functional asplenia" is emphasized and its relationship with the infectious history of such children is discussed. The anti-bacterial role of the spleen and the responsibility, at least partial, or asplenia in the susceptibility of patients with sickle cell anemia to infections, especially pneumococcal ones, are reviewed. The pathophysiologic mechanism of functional asplenia is then discussed. The author concludes that asplenia has no predictive value in selecting children "at risk" for infection and stresses the necessity of a systematic prevention by penicillin therapy and antipneumococcal vaccination in such patients before 4 years of age.