Abstract
Six patients are described in whom gangrene of one or more toes occurred as the presenting feature of essential thrombocythaemia. Spontaneous platelet aggregation was observed in platelet-rich plasma from four patients and platelet aggregation after the addition of adenosine diphosphate and collagen was highly abnormal in samples from all six. All of the patients described dramatic relief of pain within six hours of ingestion of aspirin and this coincided with disappearance of the spontaneous platelet aggregation and collagen-induced platelet aggregation. Treatment with phosphorus-32 corrected the platelet count and there were no further recurrences of peripheral vascular disease. Platelet function tests performed at the time all gave normal results. It is concluded that essential thrombocythaemia is an important and treatable cause of peripheral vascular disease.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Biermé R., Boneu B., Guiraud B., Pris J. Aspirin and recurrent painful toes and fingers in thrombocythaemia. Lancet. 1972 Feb 19;1(7747):432–432. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(72)90877-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- FOUNTAIN J. R., LOSOWSKY M. S. Haemorrhagic thrombocythaemia and its treatment with radioactive phosphorus. Q J Med. 1962 Apr;31:207–220. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- GUNZ F. W. Hemorrhagic thrombocythemia: a critical review. Blood. 1960 May;15:706–723. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- HARDISTY R. M., WOLFF H. H. Haemorrhagic thrombocythaemia: a clinical and laboratory study. Br J Haematol. 1955 Oct;1(4):390–405. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1955.tb05528.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Thomson C., Forbes C. D., Prentice C. R. The potentiation of platelet aggregation and adhesion by heparin in vitro and in vivo. Clin Sci Mol Med. 1973 Oct;45(4):485–494. doi: 10.1042/cs0450485. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Youssef A. H., Barkhan P. Inhibition by aspirin of release of antiheparin activity from human platelets. Br Med J. 1969 Aug 16;3(5667):394–396. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5667.394. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]