Effectiveness of experimental splenic artery ligation and splenic autotransplantation on occurrence of pneumococcal sepsis

This experimental study aims to evaluate the relative effectiveness of splenic artery ligation and splenic autotransplantation as spleen-saving surgical procedures. Forty female Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 162-270 g were divided into four groups: group I control, group II for splenectomy, group III for splenic artery ligation and group IV for splenic autotransplantation. Serum levels of complement 3 and 4 (C3, C4), immunoglobulin M, G, A (IgM, IgG, IgA) and fibronectin were measured, and control blood samples were cultured in all animals on the 30th postoperative day. On the 45th postoperative day Streptococcus pneumoniae type 25 was injected intraperitoneally, the same parameters tested 48th later. The animals were sacrificed after blood sampling to obtain lung tissue cultures. Penumococcal injections resulted in statistically significant differences in C3, IgM, fibronectin levels between the splenic artery ligation group (III) and the splenic autotransplantation group (IV). The sepsis induced by intraperitoneal Pneumococcus injection, colonization was detected in lung in group III and tissue cultures in 2 (20%) rats in group III and 4 (40%) rats in group IV. The elevated levels of C3, IgM and fibronectin in groups III and IV compared to group II were considered to be statistically significant (p < 0.01). These results indicated a statistically significant (p < 0.01) advantage of splenic artery ligation over autotransplantation.