Cyclic Thrombocytopenia Case Report and Review of Literature

A patient with cyclic changes in circulating platelet level is reported, and the literature on this cyclic phenomenon is discussed. Platelet and menstrual cycles occurred independently. In our patient and several others reviewed herein, the cycling of the platelet level is probably related to cyclic changes in platelet production. We speculate that these production changes result from the action of a normal regulatory mechanism on a depressed bone marrow.