[Leukemia caused by collision with a wild pig?].

HISTORY: A 23 years old, previously healthy woman was admitted to our clinic with neutropenic fever to rule out acute leukemia. Upon admission the patient reported that a few days ago the carcass of a pig had fallen on her from above, so that she experienced strong back pain.

FINDINGS AND DIAGNOSIS: The blood count showed thrombocytopenia and marked neutropenia of 0.04G/L. Moreover, laboratory work up demonstrated increased C-reactive protein, procalcitonin as well as serum creatinine levels.

THERAPY AND COURSE: Broad antiinfective therapy was initiated immediately. During the further course of disease the patient developed signs of acute cholecystitis, which was managed conservatively. Only after repeated specific investigation and after initially denying, the patient reported to have taken 1 g of metamizole as self-medication after her initial accident. All symptoms and laboratory parameters gradually improved and finally completely resolved to normal, and the patient could be released from hospital after seven days.

CONCLUSIONS

In retrospect all signs and symptoms reported here can be interpreted as an infectious complication during an episode of agranulocytosis caused by a single dose of metamizole, underscoring the importance of carefully judging indication when using this otherwise highly useful substance.