Splenectomy is not associated with a higher tricuspid regurgitant jet velocity in people with sickle cell anemia.

Background: Vascular complications such as pulmonary hypertension (PH) occur at an increased rate following splenectomy in patients with various hemolytic blood disorders including thalassemia. The goal of this retrospective cross-sectional analysis was to assess the independent association of splenectomy with an elevated tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV) in people with homozygous sickle cell disease (HbSS). TRV is a noninvasive screening test for PH and a surrogate marker of prognosis in sickle cell disease (SCD).