inflammation of the spleen

[pollyanna]

My brother finished chemotherapy in January 2005 and has received good monthly reports since. This month his LDH was elevated so they did an MRI. It was clean. They did another blood test and the ldh was still elevated so they did a CT scan. The CT scan did not show any tumors but it showed an inflamed spleen. Therefore, the Dr. wants to do a PET scan to determine why the spleen is inflamed. Has this ever happened to anyone? What could it be? Should I be concerned?

Pollyanna

[pollyanna]

What about an enlarged spleen? Has anyone had that after RPLND and 4 rounds of chemo?

Polyanna

[Kev332]

Pollyanna,

I'm not sure why the spleen would be enlarged and I'm not familiar with that symptom. Hopefully someone else on this site could have more info on this subject.

Hope all goes well with your brother.

-Kevin

[dadmo]

Pollyanna:
The chemo can cause inflammation of the spleen. Here's some information from the web site Chemocare.com. I hope this helps.

[Fish]

Hi:

The spleen contains some immune system cells and also helps to break down old and damaged red blood cells. I suspect that any major surgery or chemicals from chemo could cause inflammation ocassionally. I would not worry too much until they find out more information, it might just have to be monitored. The spleen can be removed if necessary and people generally do OK without it (it's a fairly common injury in car accidents).

Hopefully, the inflammation will subside over time. Keep us updated.

Best wishes to you and your brother