Splenectomy as treatment for nonhealing soft tissue defect after total knee arthroplasty in a patient with Felty's syndrome.

We describe the apparent remarkable effect of splenectomy on wound healing in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis and Felty's syndrome. The patient had previously undergone a knee replacement with 4 months of failure of the surgical wound site to heal or close. The wound, which had broken down and dehisced on 3 separate occasions after plastic surgical attempts at closure, healed cleanly and without recurrence within 3 weeks of splenectomy and plastic repair at the same operation.