Cardiopulmonary Bypass Surgery in a Patient with Unexpected Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia

Abstract

We report a case of a 77-year-old woman with massive pulmonary embolism associated with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Before developing a pulmonary embolism, the patient underwent gastrectomy due to gastric cancer and received subcutaneous heparin calcium for deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis for 5 d. Then, thrombectomy with cardiopulmonary bypass using full heparinization was successfully performed. The patient was definitively diagnosed with this condition postoperatively, based on elevated serum antibody levels, in addition to pre-and postoperative thrombocytopenia and thrombosis. Intravenous heparin therapy was switched to argatroban. Although it is uncommon, clinicians should consider this condition in patients with a history of heparin exposure.