Occurrence of Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura Following Enucleation of a Neuroendocrine Tumor of the Head of the Pancreas

Cureus. 2023 Oct 16;15(10):e47109. doi: 10.7759/cureus.47109. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Neuroendocrine tumors are growths occurring in various organs including the pancreas which contain endocrine tissue. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are rare in occurrence with an incidence of <1 per 100,000 individuals. But the incidence is rising and the said tumors are becoming more common in the world. Herein we report a case of a 49-year-old female with a background history of poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus for 7 years, dyslipidemia, and bronchial asthma for 19 years on regular inhaler therapy presenting with a history of back pain for 3 months duration. With serial investigations, she was found to have a neuroendocrine tumor involving the head of the pancreas with no local infiltration and distant metastases. Whipple's procedure was performed after which she developed thrombocytopenia from post-operative day 1 itself. Following this, she was diagnosed as having immune thrombocytopenic purpura and being managed with oral corticosteroids, after which she made a successful recovery from the acute condition but with multiple relapses from time to time.

Keywords: chromogranin-a; disseminated intravascular coagulation (dic); immune mediated thrombocytopenic purpura (itp); megakaryopoiesis; pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Publication types

  • Case Reports