[Aetiology of the thrombocytopenia in vinylchloride disease (author's transl)].

Thrombocytopenia is often one of the first signs of vinylchloride disease. Morphological investigations showed that it is caused by splenic alterations. Besides splenomegaly, there are significant structural changes in the red pulp cords affecting the microcirculation. These quantitative and qualitative alterations cause increased platelet pooling and and increased destruction of platelets, which result in a decrease in thrombocytes in the peripheral blood.