Response of Traumatized Splenectomized Patients to Immediate Vaccination with Polyvalent Pneumococcal Vaccine

Abstract

Sixteen consecutive multitraumatized patients received polyvalent pneumococcal vaccine 0.5 ml i.m. within 72 h of splenectomy; 10 normal controls were given 0.5 ml polyvalent pneumococcal vaccine. Patients received an average of 19.2 U of blood and blood products; 7 were on steroids for concomitant head injury. Antibody was measured by the radioimmune assay. Most of the subjects of both groups responded to at least 7 of the 12 measured antigens; no patient in the control group and only 1 in the splenectomized group responded to all 12 antigens. When rate of response to individual serotypes was compared, no difference was found between the 2 groups. Comparison of geometric mean fold rise and fold rise between the 2 groups for each of the 12 serotypes revealed essentially no difference. Thus, the response to polyvalent pneumococcal vaccine among polytrauma splenectomized patients is similar to that of normal controls; the vaccine can be administered immediately post-splenectomy.