CASE REPORT
A case of idiopathic portal hypertension associated with rheumatoid arthritis
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Tomomi Sasajima1 , Tomohiro Suzuki2, Kenji Mori2, Osamu Ichii2, Mayumi Tai2, Hironobu Ochiai2, Yutaka Ejiri2, Hiroshi Watanabe1, Hiromasa Ohira1, Katsutoshi Obara1 and Yukio Sato1
| (1) |
Department of Internal Medicine II, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan |
| (2) |
Department of Gastroenterology, Fukushima Rosai Hospital, 3 Numajiri, Tsuzura-machi, Uchigo, Iwaki, Japan |
Received: 17 June 2005 Accepted: 06 January 2006
Abstract A 53-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis was found to have thrombocytopenia, splenomegaly, and gastric varices. She was diagnosed as having idiopathic portal hypertension on the basis of liver biopsy and angiography. Treatment with prednisolone was not sufficiently effective for thrombocytopenia. After transabdominal devascularization with splenectomy, thrombocytopenia subsided and gastric varices disappeared. In this case, the autoimmune mechanism as well as hypersplenism was suspected of being involved in the mechanism of thrombocytopenia.
Key words Idiopathic portal hypertension (IPH) - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) - Splenectomy - Steroid therapy - Thrombocytopenia |
