Juan has been diagnosed with mono, and the doctor wants to determine if his spleen is enlarged. Where (quadrant, etc.) will the doctor palpate Juan's abdomen? What other organs might be compressed by Juan's enlarged spleen? Given the diagnosis, why is Juan's spleen enlarged and not his stomach or kidney?

Answer and Explanation:

Under normal conditions in general the spleen can not be palped because of its reduced size. But when it is enlarged it might be easily touched. The spleen is located under the thoracic cage (rib cage) on the left side, between the 8th and 11th ribs. This would correspond to the left superior quadrant (left hemi-belly).

The enlargement of the spleen and the liver inflammation are symptoms of the mono disease. This enlargement might affect some neighboring organs such as the stomach, which might be displaced and compressed.

The spleen is part of the immunological system and helps the body to fight infections and filter old bloody cells taking them out of the blood current. This organ might get enlarged because blood cells accumulate in its interior. Red blood cells are excessively stored in the spleen, resulting in anemia. The more cells the spleen retains, the larger it becomes, and hence, the more blood cells it retains and destroys. If the spleen is unproperly working, it kills too many red blood cells and accumulates many others.

The Stomach and kidney are not part of the immunity system and they do not filter blood cells, so they do not seem to be affected by their accumulation.

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