Abstract
This chapter discusses the human spleen as an organ that, at one point, was deemed as nonessential as the appendix and has been associated in history as the source of melancholy thoughts. The chapter reviews overwhelming postsplenectomy infection (OPSI) or postsplenectomy sepsis (PSS) as one of a group of infectious disease processes for which diagnosis and therapeutic intervention are required immediately to minimize disease impact. It also analyzes how the individual risk of OPSI depends on the cause of splenectomy as well as the time post procedure. The chapter looks at asplenic conditions that have a lower risk of OPSI, and points out that 5% to 6% of total OPSI cases occur in individuals with poorly functioning spleens.
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