Because the spleen can no longer be considered readily dispensable, a variety of alternatives to total splenectomy (splenic repair, partial resection, autotransplantation, ischemic therapy, reticuloendothelial blockade and irradiation) have been developed to preserve functioning remnants in trauma and hypersplenism. It remains unclear how much spleen adequately protects against OPSI or under persistent workload stimulus leads to recurrence of hypersplenism.