Successful surgical management of neutropenic enterocolitis in two patients with severe aplastic anemia. Case reports and review of the literature.

We describe two patients with severe aplastic anemia in whom neutropenic enterocolitis developed while they were undergoing treatment at the National Institutes of Health. Both patients had progressive symptoms while receiving optimal medical management and both underwent and survived surgical intervention despite continued prolonged neutropenia in the perioperative period. This experience contrasts with six cases reported in the literature and suggests that surgery can be employed even in patients with profound neutropenia. Thus, in patients who remain persistently septic or who develop clinical deterioration despite medical management or who have other indications for surgical intervention, neutropenia should not be a contraindication to the appropriate or necessary procedure.