Micheli,1 in 1911, was the first to report a case of acquired hemolytic icterus in which splenectomy was performed, with the result that the jaundice and anemia disappeared completely. In 1913, Kahn,2 Wynther3 and Thursfield4 recorded similar success in cases of congenital hemolytic jaundice. Since then, more favorable reports have been published in a large series of cases, and today removal of the spleen is recognized as the accepted therapeutic procedure for patients with hemolytic jaundice. Giffin,5 reporting on eighty-one cases in which splenectomy was performed at the Mayo Clinic, emphasized the value of the operation and concluded that "in two diseases, hemolytic jaundice and hemorrhagic purpura, the indication for splenectomy depends almost entirely on a satisfactory diagnosis." The number of unfavorable results of the operation is not high. The mortality in Giffin's series was 4.93 per cent.
In a consideration of the unfavorable results