Case 37-1998

Presentation of CaseA 41-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of thrombocytopenia and anemia.The patient had been well until a few weeks earlier, when her menses, which had been profuse in recent years, became even heavier. Five days before admission, she again began to menstruate profusely and had orthostatic weakness. Two days later, she entered another hospital, where hematologic studies were performed (Table 1). Blood chemical values were normal. Three units of packed red cells were transfused. On the second hospital day, laboratory studies were repeated (Table 1). Since platelets were needed but unavailable for transfusion, she . . .