[Vitamin E and excessive bleeding].

A case of excessive postoperative bleeding in a 50-year-old woman undergoing breast surgery is reported. Preoperatively, the patient consumed a daily dose of vitamin E of 500 mg, which is far more than the recommended daily intake of 8-10 mg. There is reason to believe that the extensive postoperative bleeding was due to vitamin E-induced inhibition of protein kinase C, which decreases platelet adhesion. Preoperatively, blood samples showed normal prothrombin time index, activated partial thromboplastin time and platelet count, and no other explanation for the excessive bleeding was found.