Purpose: The purpose of our study was to investigate predictive factors for platelet count at 1 month after splenectomy in patients with liver cirrhosis.
Methods: A total of 60 patients with liver cirrhosis who were treated with splenectomy from January 2005 to December 2006 were enrolled in the study (hepatitis C, n = 50; hepatitis B, n = 6; alcoholism, n = 2; others, n = 2). Various preoperative clinical characteristics, including spleen weight, were analyzed by simple and multiple linear regressions to study the relationship between platelet count before and after splenectomy.
Results: Platelet count increased significantly after splenectomy. After simple linear regression, spleen weight, preoperative platelet count, lymphocyte count, and total bilirubin were significantly correlated with platelet count after splenectomy. Spleen weight, preoperative platelet count, and lymphocyte count also had a significant correlation after multiple linear regression analysis.
Conclusions: Platelet count after splenectomy in cirrhotic patients can be predicted on the basis of preoperative clinical characteristics. When selecting patients for splenectomy, spleen weight, preoperative platelet count, and lymphocyte count should be taken into consideration.
Keywords: Liver cirrhosis; Platelet count; Predictive factor; Splenectomy; Thrombocytopenia.