Bacterial Etiology of Fever Episodes of Splenectomized Patients in Three Medical Centers in the City of Mashhad in Northeastern Iran

Many medical and surgical conditions may need to be treated with splenectomy. As this lymphoid tissue plays an important role in controlling various infections, and many life-threatening infections can occur in the absence of the spleen, any episode of fever should be taken seriously.

This study aims to assess the bacterial etiology of fever episodes in splenectomized patients in three medical centers in Mashhad, a city in northeastern Iran.

Between 2006 and 2017, splenectomized patients in Imam Reza, Ghaem, and Dr. Sheikh hospitals were included in a cross-sectional study. Data collected included, age at splenectomy, hospitalization duration, indications for admission to the intensive care unit, vital signs at admission, bacterial species responsible for sepsis, times of hospitalization due to fever episodes, clinical signs and symptoms, antibiotic prophylaxis, and outcomes at six and one years. The data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 20.

A total of 280 splenectomized patients were reviewed, and 23 of them had episodes of fever. The most common causes of splenectomy were spleen masses and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), each accounting for 17.4% of cases. The mean age of the patients was 24.2 ± 1.6 years. 47.8% of the patients were male, and 52.2% were female. The median admission duration was seven days. A majority of admissions were due to intra-abdominal infections (26.7%), pneumonia (13.3%), and bacteremia (10.0%). There were 30 episodes of fever recorded, of which 2 (6.7%) resulted in death. Blood culture was positive in four cases (13.3%) for Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Citrobacter, and Brucella. A suitable antibiotic coverage was obtained in 13.3% of cases (i.e., ceftriaxone + vancomycin or fluoroquinolone + vancomycin), and a minimum suitable empiric coverage was obtained in 10.0% of cases, and no appropriate antibiotic coverage was obtained in 76.7% of cases.

The present study highlights widespread inappropriate empiric therapy of fever episodes in splenectomized patients, as well as a lack of due attention to timely sample collection before antibiotic administration. Despite this, the isolated organisms were varied and included S. pneumoniae, S. aureus, coagulase negative staphylococci, P. aeruginosa, Brucella, and Citrobacter.