MORPHOLOGICAL AND MORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF HUMAN FOETAL SPLEEN

Background: Spleen is a part of circulatory system, it is generally described with the lymphatic organs because of very large population of lymphocytes present in it. In surgical and medical history spleen has been described as a mysterious organ. Clear understanding and appreciation of its function emerged only later half of the 20th century, because of erythropoitic nature of foetal spleen the present study was conducted. Aims and Objects: To study variations on morphology and morphometry of human foetal spleen at different gestational ages. Materials and Methods: Foetal spleens were collected from SV Medical college, Tirupati and JJM Medical College, Davangere, India. Total 108 spleens were collected from foetal cadavers. The measurements length, width, thickness and weight of foetal spleen and ratio between foetal weight and spleen weight were measured. Results: The average length, width and thickness of foetal spleen of gestational age between 12 to 24 weeks were 1.7cm, 1.08 and 0.8cm respectively, gestational age between 25 to 36 weeks were 2.53cm, 1.64 and 1.0cm respectively and gestational age greater than 36 weeks were 2.67cm, 1.67 and 1.0cm respectively. The average foetal weight and spleen weight of gestational age between 12 to 24 weeks were 800gm and 2.84gm respectively and ratio between two was 0.35%, gestational age between 25 to 36 weeks were 1321.42gm and 4.52gm respectively ratio between two was 0.34% and gestational age greater than 36 weeks were 2100gm and 7.07gm respectively ratio between two was 0.33%. Conclusion: The measurements of foetal spleen are very helpful in medicine and surgical practice because of its clinical importance. The human foetal spleen is a secondary site of red blood cell.