Pancytopenia secondary to short-term, high-dose intravenous infusion of amrinone

The incidence of amrinone-induced thrombocytopenia has been reported to be 2.4 percent in patients receiving intravenous therapy. To date there have been no reports of bleeding in these patients nor have there been reports of other hematologic abnormalities secondary to amrinone administration. This case report describes a patient whose hematologic values began to decrease after two days of amrinone therapy, reaching a nadir at day 8. Values returned to baseline eight days after treatment was discontinued. This report provides the first evidence that amrinone may induce pancytopenia in patients who receive short courses of high-dose, continuous-infusion amrinone.