The spleen is an organ located under the ribs on the left side of the body. It is part of the lymphatic system, which is composed of lymph nodes, lymph vessels, lymphatic fluid, the tonsils, thymus, spleen, and lymphoid tissue of the digestive tract. Most splenic cancers do not start in the spleen, and those that do are almost always lymphomas. Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that develops in the lymphatic system. It is more common for a lymphoma to start in another part of the lymphatic system and invade the spleen than it is for lymphoma to start in the spleen itself.
There are a number of different types of spleen cancers including lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and some types of T-cell lymphomas. Roughly 70,000 new cases of lymphoma are diagnosed each year in the US.
Related Journals of Spleen Cancer
