101 patients with splenic trauma were treated during the period 1978 to 1988. They included 76 men and 25 women aged between 16 and 85 years, with a mean age of 38 years 6 months. Exclusively splenic lesions were present in 33 cases (32.67%) and bony or visceral lesions were also present in 68 cases (67.33%). 61 cases (60.39%) suffered from multiple trauma. 97 patients underwent laparotomy, 86 (85.1%) subsequently underwent total splenectomy and 11 (10.8%) conservative surgical treatment (10 partial splenectomies and 1 splenorrhaphy). Four patients did not undergo surgery and were kept under surveillance in a surgical ward for 3 weeks. The majority of partial splenectomies were carried out after 1985 though the first was performed in 1981. There was no operative mortality and post-operative mortality was 9.9% (10 deaths). The overall mean duration of hospitalisation was 20.2 days: 15.6 days for patients who underwent partial splenectomy, 19.6 days for patients who underwent total splenectomy and 21 days for cases involving simple surveillance. Operative complications occurred in 28 patients who underwent laparotomy. Complications did not occur in the 4 patients who received simple surveillance. The most frequent complications were sepsis, pneumonia, thrombo-embolic complications and four patients required reoperation for hemoperitoneum. Conservative surgical treatment is increasingly being used in splenic trauma. The criteria for avoidance of surgical intervention remain difficult to define at the present time.