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The spleen is a solid organ. Imagine squeezing a solid ball made of foam or gelatin. It will tear as you squeeze it, as it can't flatten out like a hollow spher

The spleen is a solid organ. Imagine squeezing a solid ball made of foam or gelatin. It will tear as you squeeze it, as it can't flatten out like a hollow sphere could (i.e. your stomach, intestines, etc). You have a number of solid organs, but the spleen and the liver are the most commonly injured, due to their positions on opposite sides of your abdomen. Splenic ruptures are fairly common with serious abdominal trauma. There is even a grading system... http://www.aast.org/Library/TraumaTools/InjuryScoringScales.aspx#spleen http://www.aast.org/Library/TraumaTools/InjuryScoringScales....

shakna 10y ago
How common without serious abdominal trauma? I didn't bruise, tear any muscles or crack any ribs or anything of the like. That kind of stat might give me something to brag about, not like a crappy immune system is something to be proud of. The grading system is kinda cool. Unfortunately I can't use behind my current WiFi away from home. Maybe you can tell me how I did: The spleen was horizontally rupture into two pieces.
- JshWright 10y ago
  It's not that uncommon to have little to no bruising. One of the more common signs is actually pain in the left shoulder[1] As far as the grading of your spleen... It depends on whether the major vessels leading into the spleen were torn or not, but it certainly sounds like you had a grade 4 or 5 tear (on a scale of 1 to 5). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehr's_sign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehr's_sign
  - shakna 10y ago
    That's really interesting, aren't nerves wonderful things? 4 or 5 sounds about right, I lost something around 2 quarts of blood, though that may have more been due to inaction. All I remember from the ultrasound was thinking the red was really pretty, and then vomiting. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it's fascinating stuff.
    - JshWright 10y ago
      Two quarts is getting very close to irreversible shock territory, so nice job not dying. EDIT: Upon rereading... If you were in primary school, then two quarts would represent a very large fraction of your total blood volume (like, anywhere from 70 to 120%). You'd be very firmly in 'dead' territory at that point (assuming they weren't simultaneously putting more in)
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]

shakna 10y ago

How common without serious abdominal trauma? I didn't bruise, tear any muscles or crack any ribs or anything of the like. That kind of stat might give me something to brag about, not like a crappy immune system is something to be proud of. The grading system is kinda cool. Unfortunately I can't use behind my current WiFi away from home. Maybe you can tell me how I did: The spleen was horizontally rupture into two pieces.

JshWright 10y ago
It's not that uncommon to have little to no bruising. One of the more common signs is actually pain in the left shoulder[1] As far as the grading of your spleen... It depends on whether the major vessels leading into the spleen were torn or not, but it certainly sounds like you had a grade 4 or 5 tear (on a scale of 1 to 5). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehr's_sign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehr's_sign
- shakna 10y ago
  That's really interesting, aren't nerves wonderful things? 4 or 5 sounds about right, I lost something around 2 quarts of blood, though that may have more been due to inaction. All I remember from the ultrasound was thinking the red was really pretty, and then vomiting. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it's fascinating stuff.
  - JshWright 10y ago
    Two quarts is getting very close to irreversible shock territory, so nice job not dying. EDIT: Upon rereading... If you were in primary school, then two quarts would represent a very large fraction of your total blood volume (like, anywhere from 70 to 120%). You'd be very firmly in 'dead' territory at that point (assuming they weren't simultaneously putting more in)
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]