Yuan WJ, Zheng YJ, Zhang BR, Lin YJ, Li Y, Qiu YY, Yu XP. Hydroxyurea-related ileocecal region ulcers as a rare complication: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(6): 94330 [PMID: 40012819 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i6.94330]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xue-Ping Yu, MD, PhD, Deputy Director, Department of Infection Disease, Clinical Medical Research Center for Bacterial and Fungal Infectious Diseases of Fujian province, Fujian Medical University Affiliated First Quanzhou Hospital, No. 250 East Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China. xpyu15@fudan.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Feb 26, 2025 (publication date) through Feb 17, 2026
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Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Clinical Cases
ISSN
2307-8960
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Yuan WJ, Zheng YJ, Zhang BR, Lin YJ, Li Y, Qiu YY, Yu XP. Hydroxyurea-related ileocecal region ulcers as a rare complication: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(6): 94330 [PMID: 40012819 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i6.94330]
Wen-Jin Yuan, Yi-Juan Zheng, Bing-Rong Zhang, Yi-Jie Lin, You Li, Yan-Yan Qiu, Xue-Ping Yu, Department of Infection Disease, Clinical Medical Research Center for Bacterial and Fungal Infectious Diseases of Fujian province, Fujian Medical University Affiliated First Quanzhou Hospital, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China
Co-first authors: Wen-Jin Yuan and Yi-Juan Zheng.
Author contributions: Yuan WJ, Zheng YJ, Zhang BR, Lin YJ, Li Y, Qiu YY, and Yu XP collected the data; Yuan WJ, Zeng YJ, Zhang BR, Lin YJ, and Yu XP analysised the data; Yuan WJ and Zeng YJ wrote the manuscript; Yu XP edited the manuscript; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82370604; Major Science and Technology innovation Project of Fujian Province, No. 2023Y9269; and Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China, No. 2023J01239.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Corresponding author: Xue-Ping Yu, MD, PhD, Deputy Director, Department of Infection Disease, Clinical Medical Research Center for Bacterial and Fungal Infectious Diseases of Fujian province, Fujian Medical University Affiliated First Quanzhou Hospital, No. 250 East Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China. xpyu15@fudan.edu.cn
Received: March 15, 2024 Revised: September 28, 2024 Accepted: November 5, 2024 Published online: February 26, 2025 Processing time: 254 Days and 19.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Hydroxyurea, an antimetabolite, is frequently prescribed for various hematological disorders, and its common side effects include gastrointestinal problems, cutaneous or mucosal lesions and pyrexia/fever.
CASE SUMMARY
This study reports the case of a 67-year-old woman who developed recurrent abdominal pain after 10 years of continuous hydroxyurea therapy for primary thrombocythemia. Colonoscopy revealed an ileocecal ulcer. After discontinuing hydroxyurea therapy for 6 months, follow-up colonoscopy showed a significant reduction in the ulceration.
CONCLUSION
We consider cecal ulcers as a rare complication of hydroxyurea therapy which typically resolves upon stopping the drug.
Core Tip: Ileocecal ulcers related to hydroxyurea are a rare adverse reaction and may be associated with drug hypersensitivity vasculitis and Behcet's disease. However, its specific pathogenic mechanism remains unknown. To date, only four cases of ileocecal ulcers have been reported worldwide, including three cases of the condition being complicated by pyrexia/fever, oral ulcers, and xerosis cutis. Pathological findings of ileocecal ulcers in these four cases revealed inflammatory changes that improved after hydroxyurea was discontinued. This report aims to raise awareness of the rare complication of hydroxyurea-induced ileocecal ulcers.
