Severe Subconjuctival Haemorrhage In A Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia Patient Following Low-Dose Aspirin Therapy For Thrombocytosis

Abstract

Introduction
CML is an acquired clonal myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by a unique cytogenetic abnormality. reciprocal translocation between the long arms of chromosomes 9 and 22, 1(9:221/q34,q11) in aver 95% of patients, leading to generation of the Philadelphia
(Ph) chromosome and a highly oncogenic fusion gene, the BCR-ABLI fusion gene, which encodes for the Bcr-abli fusion protein with a very high tyrosine kinase activity. It has an annual incidence of 1-2/100,000 worldwide with a male to female ratio of 1.8:1. The
median age of presentation is 38 years in Nigeria and 67 years in Western World. The disease is a triphasic neoplasm: Chromic phase (CP) in over 85% of patients (duration 3-6 yrs, med 4yrs), which progresses to the aggressive accelerated phase (AP), and finally the terminal blastic phase (BP).
Bleeding and thrombosis are frequent complications in myeloproliferative disorders and are associaled with severe organ damage and high monality. These are usually related to
abnormalitics in platelet number and functions.
We report a case of severe subconjuctival haemorrhage in a CML patient with thrombocytosis following low-dose aspirin therapy.