Editing Autosplenectomy (section)

==Diseases that cause autosplenectomy==

===Sickle cell anemia===
The most frequent cause of autosplenectomy is [[sickle cell anemia]]<ref name=radio>{{cite web |url=http://radiopaedia.org/articles/autosplenectomy |title=Autosplenectomy |publisher=radiopaedia.org |access-date=30 December 2015 |author1=Henry Knipe |author2=Frank Gaillard }}</ref> which causes progressive splenic hypofunction over time. Increased deoxygenation causes sickling of red blood cells, which adhere to the spleen wall and splenic macrophages causing [[ischemia]].<ref name="Brousse 165–176"/>  This ischemia can result in splenic sequestration, where large amounts of blood pool in the spleen but do not flow within vasculature.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/151/9/839.full.pdf|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150906103431/http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/151/9/839.full.pdf|url-status = dead|archive-date = 2015-09-06|title = Sickle Hemoglobin (Hb S) Allele and Sickle Cell Disease: A HuGE Review|last = Ashley-Koch|first = A|date = 2000|journal = American Journal of Epidemiology|volume = 151|issue = 9|pages = 839–845|doi = 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a010288|pmid = 10791557}}</ref>

=== Pneumococcal sepsis ===
Pneumococcal sepsis, or whole-body infection caused by the ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'' bacteria, has been reported to cause autosplenectomy but is a very rare and poorly understood complication of the infection.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Autosplenectomy and Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Pathogenic Relationship?|last = Santilli|first = Daniele|date = 2003|journal = Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism|volume = 33|issue = 2|pages = 125–133|doi = 10.1016/S0049-0172(03)00004-0|pmid = 14625820}}</ref>