Abstract
A 49-year-old woman was diagnosed with advanced rectal cancer with multiple liver and lung metastases. She underwent low anterior resection and received chemotherapy with mFOLFOX6 (oxaliplatin plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin) together with bevacizumab. After 19 courses of chemotherapy, the patient developed thrombocytopenia due to oxaliplatin-related splenomegaly. Elective splenectomy resulted in an increase in the platelet count and facilitated the restart of chemotherapy. The oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy had led to hepatic sinusoidal dilation and obstruction, which had induced the splenomegaly and thrombocytopenia. Thus, splenectomy seems to be useful for treating thrombocytopenia with splenomegaly and facilitating the continuation of chemotherapy.
