Qualitative and quantitative platelet defect with bleeding symptoms as presenting feature of non Hodgkin lymphomas.

A young man with bleeding symptoms, mild thrombocytopenia and abundant marrow megakaryocytes was classified as having idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Neither prednisone therapy nor splenectomy modified the clinical picture. Subsequently, a severe defect of platelet aggregation and release reaction was demonstrated. Fifteen months after the onset of bleeding symptoms, fever and hepatomegaly appeared and the diagnosis of T cell non Hodgkin lymphoma was made on the basis of a histologic review of paraffin sections of the spleen. Chemotherapy induced remission of the lymphoma, disappearance of bleeding symptoms and normalization of the platelet count and function.