On my last blog post, we went through the story of the parents who neglected the symptoms of liver cancer their child was experiencing, because they assumed it was uma afo. I promised to educate you in my next post on what uma afo is, symptoms, what to do and how it relates to liver cancer. Well, here it is!
Uma afo as the Igbos call it, is generally believed to be a common disease in children. It is one of the childhood diseases that mothers feel they are conversant with, and as such do not give it the necessary attention. Some mothers also believe its not something you necessarily take a child to the hospital for, rather you treat with traditional medicine. Uma afo is called splenomegaly (enlargement of the spleen) in English.
Let’s look at the spleen and how it works.
The spleen
The spleen is an organ that is found at the upper left of the abdomen, towards the back of the body, protected by the rib cage. It is responsible for filtering blood, clearing microorganisms from the blood thereby, helping to fight certain kinds of bacteria. It also removes abnormal red cells and synthesizes certain proteins.
The spleen is like the size of a fist and therefore is not usually felt except when enlarged due to being overworked, a disease or blood disorders.
Risk factors for splenomegaly
•Age: Splenomegaly is most prevalent in children and young adults with infections.
•Geographical Location: People who live in areas prone to malaria are at higher risk for splenomegaly.
•Underlying disease: Another group at high risk are individuals with inherited metabolic disorders affecting the liver and spleen.
Causes of enlarged spleen
•Infections: which could be bacterial, viral or parasitic (e.g. malaria)
•Diseases affecting the liver (e.g. liver cancer)
•Blood cancers
•Haemolytic anaemia (anaemia caused by internal destruction of red cells)
•Metabolic disorders
•Cancer of the lymph tissue
•Injury to the spleen (e.g. during sports)
•Blood clot or pressure on the veins in the spleen
Symptoms of an enlarged spleen
In most cases, an enlarged spleen might be asymptomatic but in cases where symptoms are evident, it could present as one of the following;
•Pain in the position of the spleen (the upper left part of the abdomen) which could spread to the shoulders.
•Feeling full when you’ve not eaten or when you eat just a little portion of food. This is as a result of the enlarged spleen pressing on the stomach.
•Weight loss
•Overall feeling of tiredness
•Low blood level (anaemia)
•Frequent infections
•Easy bleeding
•Jaundice
Complications
Some of the complications of splenomegaly includes;
•Rupture of the spleen which is life threatening.
•Decrease in number of healthy blood cells thereby making the body more vulnerable to certain infections.
• It might lead to a need for surgical intervention by splenectomy which can further prevent the body from clearing certain bacteria effectively.
Liver cancer
This refers to a cancer that begins in the liver. It is asymptomatic at the early stages but subsequently presents with the following symptoms;
•Abdominal swelling from the growing cancer or from fluid forced out of the veins of the liver (this also causes the veins to be prominent.
•Feeling full when you’ve not eaten or when you eat just a little portion of food.
•Loss of appetite
•Weight loss
•Pain in the abdomen which may spread to the shoulders
•Feeling unwell
•Jaundice (yellowish colouration of the skin and eyes)
•Itching
•Lump on the right side of the abdomen
As we have seen, splenomegaly and liver cancer have a lot of symptoms in common. There is need to go to the hospital and have yourself or your child examined before drawing conclusions.
What to do in splenomegaly cases
•Avoid sports where participants come in contact with one another, such as football and limit other activities to avoid spleen rupture.
•Seek treatment in a good health facility.
•Treatment is based on the underlying condition, after the doctor has performed a physical examination and confirmed the diagnosis with some blood and imaging tests. In some cases where the cause cannot be ascertained and serious complications are present, the spleen would have to be removed.
To bring this insightful discussion to an end, uma afo and liver cancer as we have read, presents with similar symptoms. This made it easy for the woman to assume wrongly. Also, there is a high possibility that even if she had found time to visit a traditional medicine center, they might have missed it too. This reinforces the need to make necessary hospital visits.
You might have personal beliefs preventing you from making hospital visits when you’re sick, but it is essential you make these visits especially to good ones with specialists, to avoid “had I known” situations.
Anticipate my next blog post.
Stay safe
Maureen
Medtrix 