Cerebral Vascular Accident in a Patient With Reactive Thrombocytosis: A Rare Cause of Stroke

Plateletpheresis: Nonoperative Management of Symptomatic Carotid Thrombosis in a Patient with Reactive Thrombocytosis

BACKGROUND

The most common pathology associated with an intraluminal carotid thrombus is underlying atherosclerosis. In rare cases, it may be associated with thrombocytosis. Currently there are no clear recommendations for the treatment of ischemic stroke associated with thrombocytosis. Our present case illustrates the use of plateletpheresis for the acute management of thrombocytosis complicated by an internal carotid artery thrombus resulting in a right middle cerebral artery stroke.

CASE DESCRIPTION

A 55-year-old female who presented with symptoms of acute, transient left hemiparesis and a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of 1. Initial head computed tomography (CT) scan was nonrevealing. Laboratory results revealed a mild hypochromic anemia and a platelet count of 1014 × 10³/mL. The patient was not a candidate for thrombolytic therapy due to the time window. Soon after admission, she experienced acute worsening of symptoms, with an NIHSS score of 18. CT angiography of the head and neck showed acute ischemic infarction involving the right middle cerebral artery territory with a nonocclusive intraluminal thrombus within the right carotid bulb. Aspirin 325 mg and intravenous heparin infusion were initiated. After a thorough workup, reactive thrombocytosis secondary to iron deficiency anemia was diagnosed. Plateletpheresis was started, and after 1 cycle the platelet count stabilized at 400 × 10³/mL. Complete thrombus resolution was confirmed on follow-up CT angiography on day 10 after admission without the need for surgical revascularization.

CONCLUSIONS

The role for plateletpheresis in treating secondary thrombocytosis is not well established. In cases with extreme thrombocytosis, immediate surgical thrombectomy may be contraindicated owing to a high risk of rethrombosis. Urgent cytoreduction with correction of the putative mechanism for thrombocytosis should be undertaken to provide optimal management.

Extreme Thrombocytosis Presenting in Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Autoantibodies-Associated Crescentic Glomerulonephritis with Immune Complex Deposits: A Case Report

INTRODUCTION

We describe a female patient with extreme reactive thrombocytosis (RT) in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA)-associated crescentic glomerulonephritis (CGN) with immune complex deposits, which has never been reported before.

CASE PRESENTATION

A female adolescent with symptoms of oliguria and gross hematuresis had serious renal function impairment (crescent formation and immune complex deposits in renal pathology examination with positive serum ANCA) and extreme thrombocytosis. We made a diagnosis of CGN and RT. After treatment with Prednisone, Cyclophosphamide, and plasmapheresis, the symptoms of oliguria and gross hematuresis were relieved remarkably and the serum creatinine and platelet count declined significantly.

CONCLUSIONS

The diagnosis of thrombocytosis is not easy in all cases. The coexistence of ANCA and the immune complex in CGN may cause a severe inflammatory state, leading to extreme RT. The roles that the immune complex and ANCA play on the effect of the platelet count and function in CGN need further research.

[Iron deficiency, thrombocytosis and thromboembolism]

Iron deficiency, the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide, is often associated with reactive thrombocytosis. Although secondary thrombocytosis is commonly considered to be harmless, there is accumulating evidence that elevated platelet counts, especially in the setting of iron deficiency, can lead to an increased thromboembolic risk in both arterial and venous systems. Here we present the mechanisms of iron deficiency-induced thrombocytosis and summarize its clinical consequences especially in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, chronic kidney disease or cancer. We hypothesize that iron deficiency is an underestimated thromboembolic risk factor, and that iron replacement therapy can become an effective preventive strategy in a variety of clinical settings.

Association between ischemic stroke and iron-deficiency anemia: a population-based study

Background

Very little is known about the relationship between non-sickle cell anemia and stroke. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association of iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) with stroke based on a nationwide coverage database in Taiwan.

Methods

The case-control study subjects were obtained from the Taiwanese Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. We included 51,093 subjects with stroke as cases and randomly selected 153,279 controls (3 controls per case) in this study.Separate conditional logistic regression analyses were used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) for having been previously diagnosed with IDA between cases and controls.We further analyzed the association between stroke and IDA by stroke subtype.

Results

Results showed that 3,685 study subjects (1.81%) had been diagnosed with IDA prior to the index date; of those subjects, 1,268 (2.48%) were cases and 2,417 (1.58%) were controls (p<0.001). Conditional logistic regression shows that the OR of having previously received an IDA diagnosis among cases was 1.49 (95% CI: 1.39~1.60; p < 0.01) that of controls after adjusting for monthly income, geographic region, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, hyperlipidemia, tobacco use disorder, and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependency syndrome. Furthermore, the adjusted OR of prior IDA for cases with ischemic stroke was found to be 1.45 (95% CI: 1.34~1.58) compared to controls. However, we did not find any significant relationship between IDA and subarachnoid/intracerebral hemorrhage even adjusting for other confounding factors (OR=1.17, 95% CI=0.97~1.40).

Conclusion

There is a significant association between prior IDA and ischemic stroke.