Platelet cold agglutinins and thrombocytopenia: A diagnostic dilemma in the intensive care unit

Abstract

We report a case of pseudo-thrombocytopenia due to cold agglutinins against platelets. These cold agglutinins were the cause for diagnostic confusion and resulted in extensive workup and unnecessary therapeutic precautions. A thirty two year old female with Guillain-Barre syndrome was admitted in the ICU and serial work-up showed markedly low levels of platelets. The patient had no symptoms of bleeding and patient was investigated extensively for deciphering the etiology of low platelet count. In-vitro clumping of platelets was suspected and in-vitro studies showed marked clumping of platelets with ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid, citrate and heparinized samples. The manual platelet count was found to be within normal limits. Thrombocytopenia as a result of platelet cold agglutinins is a rare cause of in-vitro low platelet counts. No clinical problems have been reported due to the same.

Keywords

• Cryoagglutinins (cold agglutinins)
• intensive care units
• thrombocytopenia