[Anesthetic experience of a patient with essential thrombocythemia]

We reported a 54-year-old male with essential thrombocythemia, who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting. Anesthesia was maintained with enflurane in nitrous oxide and oxygen supplemented with fentanyl. Heparin 7mg. kg-1 was administered intravenously to obtain adequate anticoagulant effect during 89 minutes of extracorporeal circulation. Aspirin and dipyridamole were also administered as anti-platelet therapy. No complications were observed during and after anesthesia. It is advocated that administration of anticoagulants such as heparin, aspirin and dipyridamole is effective to prevent thrombus formation.