A Rare Etiology of Severe Thrombocytopenia in Patient with Chronic Liver Disease.

Thrombocytopenia is a common complication in patients with chronic liver disease and is multi-factorial. It complicates the management and worsens the prognosis. Treatment options are costly and include platelet transfusion, splenectomy, splenic artery embolization, TIPPS and thrombopoietin (TPO) agonists. Here we are presenting a patient with decompensated liver disease with known chronic alcoholism and profound thrombocytopenia despite multiple platelet transfusions. On further work up we found a coexistent autoimmune etiology. Thrombocytopenia promptly responded to steroids, a cost effective option. © Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 2011.