Pleural Effusion After Spontaneous Abortion in Two Young Women with Essential Thrombocythemia

Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is one of the myeloproliferative disorders characterized by an elevated platelet count and either hemorrhagic or thrombotic tendency. ET in pregnancy may be complicated by recurrent abortion. In this paper, we reported pleural effusion following spontaneous abortion in two young women with ET in the third trimester. Both patient’s chest roentgenograms showed pleural effusion. Platelet counts were 1120x10 /L and 1200x10 /L, respectively. Bone marrow biopsy revealed increased megakaryocytes. Both patient’s lung perfusion scans revealed perfusion defects. The platelet count and pleural effusions decreased gradually with hydroxyurea and heparin. To our knowledge, there is no reported case of essential thrombo­cythemia and spontaneous abortion associated with pleural effu­sion in the literature.