Abstract
A 70-year-old man with essential thrombocythemia (ET), being treated with oral administration of aspirin and hydroxyurea, presented with fever and abdominal pain. His platelet count was 65.4×104/μL, while coagulation parameters were within normal ranges. Computed tomography revealed a linear structure penetrating the small intestine. Penetration by a fish bone was suspected because of a recent history of fish consumption. Emergency surgery was performed to extirpate the fish bone. However, a tendency to bleed was noted just after the surgery. On postoperative day (POD) 7, fever and abdominal pain appeared, which was accompanied by the accumulation of intestinal fluids from the drainage hole. Percutaneous abscess drainage was performed for peritonitis due to sutural leakage. Subsequently, sutural leakage was observed and the patient was discharged on POD 55. A surgical patient with ET is relatively rare and perioperative management of the pathological characteristics is difficult. We report herein on a case of gastrointestinal penetration by a fish bone in a patient with ET and review the pertinent literature.
