Disseminated intravascular coagulation in a patient with metastatic prostate cancer: fatal outcome following strontium-89 therapy.

A patient with metastatic prostate cancer was found to have low-grade disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). He had significant bone pain despite external-beam radiotherapy and was given 89Sr with subsequent thrombocytopenia and epistaxis. The patient died from generalized hemorrhage 36 days postinjection. Although it is not possible to establish a causal relationship between the 89Sr and DIC, practitioners should be alert to complications associated with the primary disorder which might occur at a time to raise concern about the intervention.