Acute splenic rupture in an adult with homozygous sickle cell anemia treated with chronic transfusions.

Splenic rupture is a very rare event in adult homozygous sickle cell patients. The authors describe a 19-year-old patient with homozygous sickle cell disease who experienced an acute splenic rupture crisis requiring emergent splenectomy. He had been receiving chronic blood transfusions regularly for 7 years secondary to a previous stroke. It is possible that these transfusions contributed to regeneration of splenic red pulp, which allowed a crisis to occur at an advanced age.