Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura apparently is a rare disease in as much as only 119 cases! have been reported since its initial description by Moschcowitz-in 1925. It is characterized clinically by thrombocytopenia, hemopytic anemia, and fluctuating and often bizarre central nervous system involvements; it is probably always fatal. Histologically the basic lesion is the widespread occlusion of arterioles and capillaries with an. amorphous hyaline material; the heart, pancreas, adrenals, brain and kidney are most severely affected", PRESENTATION OF CASE A 44-year-old white woman was admitted to the Guthrie Clinic -Robert Packer Hospital on July 23, 1959, with a chief complaint of weakness of the right arm. She had been well until three weeks prior to admission when she developed swelling and paresthesias of the right hand and weakness of the right upper extremity, progressing to almost complete paralysis in one week. She had also noticed weakness of the right lower extremity during the first week of her illness. She had regained some strength in both extremities prior to admission. There was no history of recent infection or injury. Pounding occipital headaches had occurred toward the end of each day for the past six months. The medical history revealed the excision of supraclavicular nodes at another hospital in 1947. Neither the reasons for this procedure, nor the results of microscopy were obtainable. In June, 1958, she had been admitted to still another hospital for "heart disease". A chest roentgenogram obtained from that hospital revealed a diffuse soft fibrotic-like process throughout both lung fields. There was no history of allergy or drug ingestion. The family history was non-contributory; the patient had no siblings.
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Schaeffer et al. (1960) studied this question.