2020 Volume 40 Issue 1 Pages 79-83
Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a frequent complication of bone marrow carcinomatosis, and carries a very poor prognosis. Herein, we present the case of a 61–year–old woman who had undergone total gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer 29 months earlier. She received S–1 for 1 year as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. At 29 months after the gastrectomy, she was admitted to our hospital with gingival hemorrhage. Based on the findings of physical and laboratory examination, she was diagnosed as having DIC complicating disseminated bone marrow carcinomatosis secondary to gastric cancer. The patient received chemotherapy with the combination of S–1 plus cisplatin, which resulted in resolution of the DIC and pain control. The patient survived for approximately 10 months after the onset of DIC. Although there are no standard therapies for DIC complicating disseminated bone marrow carcinomatosis, the current case illustrates that chemotherapy may be useful for the control of DIC complicating bone marrow metastasis from gastric cancer. Therefore, early diagnosis of DIC in these patients can facilitate the introduction of prompt and appropriate chemotherapy.
