Question

Assertion (A): Splenectomised patients are at increased risk of septicaemia.

Reason (R): Splenectomised patients frequently have an increase in white cell and platelet counts.

• A. Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A
• B. Both A and R are true but R is NOT the correct explanation of A
• C. A is true but R is false
• D. A is false but R is true

Hint:

The infection risk comes from loss of splenic filtering, not from the rise in blood counts.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

This assertion-reason question checks two separate facts about patients who have had a splenectomy, then asks if the second fact explains the first.

1. Truth of the assertion: The spleen clears encapsulated bacteria like pneumococcus from the blood and supports antibody production. Once it is removed, these bacteria are cleared far less efficiently, so splenectomised patients do carry a genuine, well documented higher risk of severe septicaemia. The assertion is true.
2. Truth of the reason: After splenectomy, platelet and white cell counts commonly rise for some weeks, since the spleen no longer removes older cells from the blood. Taken alone, this fact is also true.
3. Does the reason explain the assertion: The septicaemia risk is driven by the loss of bacterial filtering and reduced antibody response, not by a rise in cell counts. A high platelet or white cell count does not cause infection. So the reason, though true, is not the actual cause of the assertion.

Both statements hold up on their own, but the second does not account for the first.

Let's summarize:

• Splenectomy raises infection risk mainly through loss of bacterial clearance and antibody support.
• The rise in blood counts after splenectomy is a separate, unrelated effect of the surgery.

So both A and R are true, but R does not correctly explain A.