The spleen is located in your upper left side of your abdomen and aids the body in the fight against germs and infection by filtering your blood.

Medical problems that can occur with the spleen include:

• Hypersplenism when the spleen is overactive
• A spleen cyst or abscess
• Spleen tumors or spleen cancer
• Spleen blood vessels are blocked by a clot
• Blood cell diseases
• Sickle cell anemia
• Leukemia
• Lymphoma
• Hodgkin’s disease

Symptoms can include an enlarged spleen, a low level in your blood cell counts, and pain on the left side. When the spleen is diseased or damaged and cannot be treated with non-surgical treatments, then the spleen is removed through surgery (splenectomy).