Spleen Cancer

What is spleen cancer?

This is a cancerous tumor in your spleen, the fist-sized organ that’s part of your lymphatic system. Spleen cancer is uncommon. It typically develops when cancer in another part of your body metastasizes (spreads) to your spleen. Less often, it starts in your spleen.

Types of spleen cancer

There are two spleen cancer types: primary and secondary:

• Primary spleen cancers, which start in your spleen, are very uncommon. The two primary spleen cancer subtypes are splenic marginal zone lymphoma and splenic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Very rarely, people with spleen cancer have primary splenic angiosarcoma.
• Secondary spleen cancers are when cancer spreads to your spleen from another area of your body. For example, you may develop spleen cancer if you have a blood cancer like leukemia or lymphoma. Less frequently, cancers like breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer may spread to your spleen. Secondary spleen cancers are much more common than primary spleen cancers.

What are spleen cancer symptoms?

You may have spleen cancer without having symptoms. If you do have symptoms, the most common are:

• Pain in your upper abdomen because your spleen is enlarged (splenomegaly).
• Unexpected weight loss.
• Feeling weak.
• Fever.

Spleen cancer doesn’t happen often, so having certain symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean you have it. For example, mononucleosis may make your spleen swell. That said, talk to a healthcare provider if you’re concerned about swelling in your upper belly, if you have a fever that lasts more than two weeks or have pain in the upper left part of your belly.

What causes spleen cancer?

Most of the time, spleen cancer happens when cancer from another area of your body invades your spleen. Less often, rare forms of non-Hodkgin lymphoma develop in your spleen.

Risk factors

A risk factor is an experience or activity that increases the chance you’ll develop a specific medical condition. One general risk factor is when cancer from somewhere else in your body spreads to your spleen. You may increase your risk of splenic marginal zone lymphoma if you have hepatitis C or autoimmune diseases.

What are the complications of spleen cancer?

Left untreated, spleen cancer may make your spleen burst or rupture. A ruptured spleen can cause life-threatening internal bleeding and requires immediate medical attention.

How is spleen cancer diagnosed?

Healthcare providers typically perform biopsies to diagnose spleen cancer. They may order a peripheral blood smear test, too. And they may also order imaging tests to see how cancer is affecting your spleen or if spleen cancer is spreading to another part of your body. Imaging tests may include:

• Computed tomography (CT) scan.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.
• Positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
• Ultrasound.

What are spleen cancer treatments?

Your treatment will depend on factors like:

• Spleen cancer type.
• Whether the cancer is primary or secondary. If you have secondary spleen cancer, treatment will focus on the cancer that spread to your spleen.
• The cancer stage.
• Your overall health.

Healthcare providers may do splenectomies to treat spleen cancer. Removing your spleen eliminates cancer in your spleen but isn’t treatment for other cancers that spread there.

People with primary spleen cancer like splenic primary diffuse B-cell lymphoma may receive treatments including:

• Chemotherapy.
• Radiation therapy.

Treatment side effects or complications

All surgeries involve some risk of infection or excessive bleeding. Sometimes, splenectomies cause serious infections. Your provider may recommend you have certain vaccinations before and after surgery that protect against bacteria likely to cause infection.

Common chemotherapy and radiation therapy side effects include:

• Fatigue.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Loss of appetite.

Can spleen cancer be prevented?

That depends. For example, experts believe having hepatitis C may increase your risk of developing primary spleen cancer. You can prevent hepatitis C by avoiding contact with infected blood, specifically by not sharing needles or syringes.

On the other hand, secondary spleen cancer happens when other kinds of cancer invade your spleen. In that case, preventing other cancers or early detection and treatment are the only ways to prevent spleen cancer.

Can spleen cancer be cured?

If cancer started in your spleen, surgery to remove your spleen may cure it. That may be a different situation if you have cancer that spread to your spleen from another part of your body. In that case, curing spleen cancer may depend on successful treatment of the original cancer.

What are spleen cancer survival rates?

One analysis of spleen cancer cases showed more than 83% of people with primary spleen cancer were alive five years after diagnosis. But spleen cancer survival rates can vary widely depending on many factors like:

• Whether the cancer is primary or secondary.
• The cancer stage at diagnosis.
• Your overall health.

When you think about survival rates, it’s important to remember some rates are based on a few studies involving a relatively small group of people. That’s particularly true in spleen cancer, which is uncommon. If you have questions about your situation, ask your healthcare provider what you can expect.

How do I take care of myself?

If you’re living with spleen cancer, you’re probably living with cancer that spread to your spleen from another part of your body. Your healthcare provider may refer to this as metastatic cancer.

Being diagnosed with metastatic cancer comes with many challenges. These challenges vary from person to person, but you might:

• Feel sad, angry or hopeless.
• Feel overwhelmed because you have cancer in more than one place in your body.
• Worry that treatment won’t work.
• Worry that the cancer will get worse quickly.
• Need help with daily routines.

If this is your situation, consider participating in a cancer survivorship program. Cancer survivorship programs help carry people through cancer, helping them live as long as they can and with the best possible quality of life.