Thrombopoietin and thrombocytopenia in anorexia nervosa with severe liver dysfunction.
OBJECTIVE
Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) display various physical complications. One such problem is thrombocytopenia. However, no studies have investigated links between AN and thrombopoietin (TPO), which is the primary regulator of megakaryocyte and platelet production produced mainly in the liver, although TPO has been recently reported to play a role in thrombocytopenia in liver diseases. We therefore clarified temporal relationships between platelet counts and TPO level in a woman with AN and severe liver dysfunction in whom platelet count decreased to 53 x 10⁹/L.


RESULTS
While international normalized ratio (INR) was low, serum TPO level was relatively low despite low platelet counts. After INR and liver enzymes improved in conjunction with improved nutritional status, a rapid increase in TPO was observed and platelet count began to rise.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings thus suggest that decreased TPO production accompanying liver dysfunction may be related to thrombocytopenia besides myelosuppression in AN with malnutrition.
Yoshiuchi
Kazuhiro
K
Department of Stress Sciences and Psychosomatic Medicine, Unit for Study of Eating Disorders, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. kyoshiuc-tky@umin.ac.jp
Takimoto
Yoshiyuki
Y
Moriya
Junko
J
Inada
Shuji
S
Akabayashi
Akira
A
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy; D006801:Humans; D019934:International Normalized Ratio; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000628:therapy; D018529:Nutritional Support / Q000379:methods; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D013926:Thrombopoietin / Q000097:blood*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D013926:Thrombopoietin