HYPERSPLENISM, first described by Wiseman and Doan,1 includes a variety of hematologic syndromes which can be attributed to overactivity of the spleen. The spleen has three major functions: the destruction of red blood cells, the storage of blood, and the production of lymphocytes from the lymphoid elements in the organ. In hypersplenism, there may exist a diminution in any of the cellular elements of the blood. The patient may exhibit findings consistent with neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, or anemia, either singly, or in combination, or all three together.2 The etiologic factors enumerated by Dameshek3 in a study of 28 cases included rheumatoid arthritis, syphilis, cirrhosis of the liver, Gaucher's disease, Boeck's sarcoid, malaria, and Hodgkin's disease, and 16 were classified as idiopathic. The diagnosis is based on the cytopenia associated with a normal or hyperfunctioning bone marrow, and in the case of anemia, with no obvious cause of blood