Acute Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Treated by Thrombectomy in a Patient with Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Severe Thrombocytopenia.

OBJECTIVE: Experience on thrombolysis and/or thrombectomy for acute major ischemic strokes in the setting of deep (less than 40,000/mm(3)) thrombocytopenia is limited. METHODS: Case report and review of the literature. RESULTS: A 63-year-old female with myelodysplastic syndrome presented with left middle cerebral artery stroke within 2 hours of symptom onset. Severe thrombocytopenia (10.000/mm(3)) precluded systemic thrombolysis. However, endovascular thrombectomy provided successful recanalization and dramatic clinical recovery with NIHSS score decreasing from 20 to 2 soon after the procedure. Her modified Rankin scale was 1 at the end of the third month. CONCLUSION: This exceptional case highlights that neurothrombectomy could be feasible and of justifiable merit even in the setting of critically low thrombocytopenia if a meticulous procedure is followed in subjects with severe acute stroke.