An 81-year-old woman was admitted to the Mazandaran Heart Center, Sari, Iran in February, 2018 with a 4-day history of nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. She had been taking Warfarin (5 mg orally once a day) and aspirin (80 mg/day) for 8 years after aortic valve replacement without close monitoring and had a history of hematochezia caused by Warfarin toxicity one year ago. Colicky pain, an increase in bowel sounds and periumbilical tenderness without distension was determined by physical examination. The primary laboratory findings revealed anemia (Hb: 9.8 g/dl; normal value: 11.5–13.5 g/dl) and elevated INR (6; therapeutic range: 2–3.5), liver function and biochemistry tests were within normal values. Normal left ventricular systolic function, LVEF of 55–60%, septal hypertrophy, normal functioning prosthetic valve, and dilatation of the ascending aorta were reported by echocardiography.\nDuring an abdominal and pelvic ultrasound, long mucosal thickening possibly through the ascending and sigmoid colon was observed, suggestive of intramural hematoma. The patient was placed on\nnil per os, received supportive care and two units of fresh frozen plasma. Due to normal cardiac evaluation and partial relief of symptoms on the second day of admission, the patient was referred to surgical consultation with the possible diagnosis of descending colon and sigmoid intramural hematoma. For re-administration of anticoagulants, heparin infusion (1000 units/hour) began with precise monitoring of prothrombin time.\nOn the fourth day, CT scan was performed with intravenous and oral contrast (\n) and intramural hematoma of ileum was diagnosed. During the CT, a radiologist noticed a mass on the left breast and a lymph node with a malignant feature on the left axilla. With the improvement of abdominal pain and vomiting (on the fourth day), oral feeding was resumed. After mammography and breast biopsy, pathological examination revealed invasive ductal cell carcinoma with lymphatic and perineural invasion. According to the immunohistochemistry staining, tumor cells were strongly ER positive, PR negative, 15% Ki67 positive and equivocal for HER2. The patient was referred to the oncology-hematology department to receive appropriate treatment.\nThe patient was discharged 10 days after admission and Warfarin therapy (5 mg/d) was resumed. The patient was visited 2 weeks later with good general health assessment. Letrozole (2.5 mg/day) was started because the patient refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
A 76-year-old Chinese man complained of acutely worsening abdominal pain after treatment with 4,000 anti-Xa U of LMWH, q12h (low molecular weight heparin calcium injection, 0.4 ml/4000IU) as an anticoagulant for 3 days.\nThe patient was admitted to our hospital because of palpitation and shortness of breath for three days, and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and heart failure, with cardiac function NYHA grade III at Northern Jiangsu People’s Hospital on March 21, 2018. He had a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 4, which indicated a high risk of stroke. His body mass index was 21.66 kg/m2, and renal function was normal. Therefore, he was given furosemide and spironolactone for diuretic therapy, valsartan capsules for antihypertensive treatment, and LMWH for anticoagulation therapy.\nThe patient had a prior history of hypertension well controlled by treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.\nThe patient had no specific underlying disease. He had no family history of other significant diseases.\nPhysical examination showed abdomen tenderness and no signs of peritoneal irritation.\nOn March 21, laboratory results showed that N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide was 1590 pg/ml, international normalized ratio was 1.14, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was 38.20 s, fibrinogen was 1.67 g/L, hemoglobin was 113 g/L, red blood cell count was 3.34 × 1012/L, creatinine was 83 μmol/L, alanine transferase was (ALT) 39.0 U/L, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was 36.0 U/L, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) was 115.0 U/L, and platelet cell count was 183 × 109/L. After anticoagulation therapy for 3 days, an emergency laboratory test showed that the red blood cell count was 2.56 × 1012/L, and hemoglobin and platelet counts decreased to 82 g/L and 102 × 109/L, respectively. Furthermore, the coagulation function test demonstrated a prolonged APTT of 49.50 s. There was no bleeding per rectum, and his fecal occult blood test was negative. Considering the patient’s symptoms of abdominal pain and the rapid drop in hemoglobin and red blood cell count, there was clinical suspicion for retroperitoneal or gastrointestinal hemorrhage.\nAbdominal computed tomography (CT) showed the thickening areas of the colon up to 110 mm × 78 mm in thickness, which was a symptom of hematoma of the colon ().