Symmetric Peripheral Gangrene Resulting in Disseminated IntravascularCoagulation in a Patient with Gastric Carcinoma

Abstract

A 75-year-old man was admitted because of pain in the left leg and bloody bowel discharge. Purpuric lesions were found on the tips of his fingers and toes. A blood test showed anemia and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). The purpura progressed to gangrene in parallel with a gradual deterioration of his general condition, and the patient finally died on the 50th hospitalization day. The autopsy findings revealed that the symmetric peripheral DIC-related gangrenous lesions were due a gastric carcinoma. We should follow a multidirectional approach when we encounter a patient having the clinical manifestations demonstrated in this report.