Splenic Puncture

Splenic puncture, unlike liver puncture, is a procedure that has not been accepted in clinical medicine in the United States. Except for isolated reports,1there is no discussion of this technic in the American medical literature, nor is it even mentioned in any of the better known American monographs or textbooks of hematology. Our knowledge concerning splenic puncture is based primarily on reports emanating from areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Although splenic puncture has been practiced since the nineteenth century by Widal,2the most comprehensive studies have been published comparatively recently by Moeschlin,3Émile-Weil,2Introzzi4and Pittaluga.5It is therefore the purpose of this paper to review the experience at this clinic, where splenic puncture has been practiced as an almost routine procedure in the study of splenomegalies, particularly on the hematology service, and to evaluate its usefulness in clinical medicine as well as to