A method for in vivo determination of the splenic erythrocyte and plasma volume has been developed. Ultrasonic scanning of the splenic region permits not only determination of the shape and topography of the spleen, but also calculation of its volume with great accuracy, using simultaneous computer analysis. Splenic models of a volume as determined by ultrasonic scanning were made of water‐filled balloons and shaped as accurate copies of the scanned spleens. After infusion of known quantities of 51Cr‐labelled erythrocytes and 125I‐labelled albumin, intravenously and into a model of the patient's spleen, it may be determined – by surface measurements over the spleen in situ and over the balloon model – how large a part of the total erythrocyte and plasma volume is localized in the spleen. By the use of 59Fe, the method also allows quantitative determination of the iron incorporation in a spleen with extramedullary erythropoiesis. The percentage which the erythrocyte pool in the spleen constitutes of the total erythrocyte volume increases with increasing spleen weight, apparently independently of the underlying haematological disease.
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B. Egelund Christensen (1971) studied this question.
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