Abstract
Purpose: The report of a case o f a patient, who underwent a total hip arthroplasty and sustained cerebral hemorrhage due to low molecular weight heparin.
Case report: A 46-years-old woman had a total hip replacement due to secondary osteoarthritis after a congenital hip dislocation. She had a free medical record. Treatment with LMWH started the day of the surgery. The patient was dismissed from the hospital the sixth postoperative day, being well, and came back the ninth postoperative day, complaining of hypertension, headache and motor disturbances of her left upper limb. Neurological examination did not revealed any particular findings except reduced strength of her left upper limb. A brain CT scanning showed no significant findings, while her blood platelet count was126000 while immediately postoperatively was 180000 and preoperatively 220000. The following day the patient established a paresis of her left arm and the platelet count fell to 35000, while a new CT scan, revealed small hemorrhages in both parietal cortexes of the brain. LMWH was discontinued. The patient deceased the 11th postoperative day.
Conclusion: Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia type II and hemorrhage due to LMWH is very rare but should be bared in mind from the orthopaedic surgeon who uses LMWH for DVT prophylaxis. Clinical suspicion mandates immediate discontinuation of the agent and consideration of an alternative anticoagulation therapy along with general support of the patient.
The abstracts were prepared by Eleni Koutsoukou. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (HAOST), 20, A. Fleming str, 15123 Marousi, Athens, Greece.
