Tumor Induced Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation : A case report

Kim, Hyun Jung; Kim, Dong Won; Shin, Joong Chun; Shim, Jae Chul; Suh, Jung Kook; Yi, Hyeong Joong

Case Report

Neuroanesthesia

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2008;3(1):55-58.
Published online January 30, 2008.

Tumor Induced Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation : A case report

Hyun Jung Kim, Dong Won Kim, Joong Chun Shin, Jae Chul Shim, Jung Kook Suh, Hyeong Joong Yi

¹Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. dongwkim@hanyang.ac.kr
²Department of Neurosurgery, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Neuroblastoma, relatively common pediatric nervous system malignancy, presents as in various clinical aspects, including mass, pain, fever, weight loss, and infrequently anemia and hepatopathy. Hematologic abnormalities are also brought about according to the disease stage or pancytopenia due to radiation, mainly in the form of coagulopathy. We herein briefly report a rare case of stage IV neuroblastoma accompanied by chronic or subacute disseminated intravascular coagulation in a 5-year-old boy. Despite apparently normal coagulation profiles, we could not conduct routine invasive vascular procedures after induction of general anesthesia because of unexplained bleeding diathesis. Anesthesiologists should be alert to this kind of unexpected but potentially lethal complication and prepare to avoid mishaps.

Key Words: bleeding diathesis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, neuroblastoma