Intracardiac thrombosis in sickle cell disease

ABSTRACT

In patients with sickle cell disease, thrombotic microangiopathy is a rare complication. Also in sickle cell disease, intracardiac thrombus formation without structural heart diseases or atrial arrhythmias is a rare phenomenon. We herein describe a 22-yearold woman, who was a known case of sickle cell-beta thalassemia, had a history of recent missed abortion, and was admitted with a vaso-occlusive crisis. The patient had manifestations of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, including laboratory evidence of hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, respiratory distress, fever, jaundice, and abnormal liver function and coagulation tests, accompanied by clot formation on the Eustachian valve of the inferior vena cava in the right atrium and also a long and worm-like thrombus in the right ventricle. Therapeutic plasma exchange improved her clinical condition, and her intracardiac thrombus was completely resolved after 1 week. Echocardiography, as a simple and inexpensive imaging modality, had a significant role in the diagnosis and follow-up of this patient