CASE REPORTS   

Panminerva Medica 2000 June;42(2):155-7

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

EDTA-dependent pseudothrombocytopenia in a case of liver cirrhosis

Matarazzo M., Conturso V., Di Martino M., Chiurazzi F., Guida G., Morante R.

From the Departments of Internal Medicine and *Haematology, Federico II University Medical School, Naples, Italy

Pseudothrombocytopenia (­PTCP) is the con­se­quence of an ­EDTA-acti­vat­ed plate­let agglu­ti­na­tion, result­ing in a spu­ri­ous­ly low plate­let ­count. We ­report the ­case of a 54-­year-old man ­with ­EDTA-depen­dent ­PTCP asso­ciat­ed ­with liv­er cir­rho­sis. He ­couldn’t under­go endo­scop­ic exam­ina­tion and den­tal ­care for two ­years ­because of a pre­vi­ous diag­no­sis of ­severe throm­bo­cy­to­pe­nia sec­on­dary to liv­er cir­rho­sis. Lack of ­PTCP rec­og­ni­tion may ­lead the phy­si­cian to mis­di­ag­no­sis and mis­man­age­ment of the ­patient.