Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura secondary to Streptococcus

Morrin, M.J.; Jones, F.G.C.; McConville, J.; Arnold, C.; Mullan, B.; Lavery, G.G.; McMullin, M.F.

We describe a 16 year old female who developed thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) following infection due to Streptococcus. Initially presenting a fever and systemic upset she progressed to develop dialysis dependent acute renal failure, seizures, thrombocytopenia and a haemolytic anaemia—the pentad of features seen in TTP. Prior to the diagnosis she was found to have unexplained and previously undescribed MRI findings of diffuse increased signal intensity in the white matter of the left cerebellar hemisphere posteriorly and also increased signal intensity in the overlying cortex. She was commenced on plasmapheresis, and her anaemia, thrombocytopenia, creatinine and LDH all fully responded. In addition, she had no further seizures following plasmapheresis and has not relapsed to date. We review both the rare association of TTP and streptococcal infection, and the neuroradiological findings described in the literature. This is only the third case report describing TTP following streptococcal infection, and only the second in the era of plasmapheresis.