Case Report
Year : 2018 | Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | Page : 31 - 33
Clopidogrel-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia after years of medication
Rateesh Sareen, Menka Kapil, Piyush Mathur1, Madhulika Sharma2
Departments of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine, 1 Nephrology and 2 Medicine, Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Address for correspondence:
Dr. Rateesh Sareen, Department of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine, Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
E‐mail: drrateeshsareen@yahoo.co.in
Abstract
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a life threatening, fulminant disease characterized by fever, microangiopathy hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, neurological signs and renal insufficiency. The real culprit is agglutinated platelets and fibrin which form micro thrombi, gets deposited in arterioles and capillaries without eliciting inflammatory response. The idiopathic cases of TTP are characterized by deficiency of ADAMTS-13 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease, with thrombospondin -1 like domains) metalloprotease activity. The use of antiplatelet drugs, the thienopyridine derivatives Clopidogrel & Ticlodipine, is associated with drug induced TTP. The literature studies indicate that most cases of thienopyridine associated TTP involve an antibody to ADAMTS-13 metalloprotease that cause thrombocytopenia and respond to therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE).We report a case of 59 year old male who was on Clopidogrel post coronary angioplasty since past five years. He presented to us with complaints of nose bleeding and renal insufficiency. The evaluation of this potentially fatal drug complication should be borne in mind by physicians for all patients receiving Clopidogrel treatment.
Keywords: ADAMTS‐13, clopidogrel, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
How to cite this article:
Sareen R, Kapil M, Mathur P, Sharma M. Clopidogrel‐induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia after years of medication. Int J Clinicopathol Correl 2018;2:31-3.
