A Case of Hypofibrinogenemia Presenting with Submental Hamatoma

Mujahida Rahmanl, Naseeb Muhammad Irshadullah2, Masuda Begum3

'M"di"ul OfE""r, 'R"sidmL,3 Prcfessor, Departmflt of Hmtology, BSMMU

Abstract:

Hdreditary hypofibrinogenemia is a rare disease and the usual presentation is difficult to stop bleeding or hamatoma in the muscle or intracranial space after idury. There may also be adverse pregnancy outcome, and increased tendency to throm- bosis. The usual measure is replacement of . Here a case of this rare disease with unusual presentation is reported, and the special aspects of management are discussed.

Keywords: fibrinogen, hypofibrinogenemia, afibrinogenemia, haematoma IBSMMU J 2014 ; 7 (1) : 6s-67J

Introduction: defect in platelet function leads to prolonged bleeding time in one third of the patients3. Absence of fibrinogen Inherited disorders of fibrinogen affect either the quantity causes less severe bleeding than what would be expected, (afibrinogenemra and hypofibrinogenemia) or the quality probably because of presence of functional vWF, which () of the circulating fibrinogen or both allows platelet adhesion and aggregation, with the forma- (hypodysfibrinogenemia). Most often, patients with tion of loose thrombi even in the absence of fibrino gen4. congenital fibrinogen disorders suffer from a bleeding The inheritance pattern of afibrinogenemia is autosomal diathesis but paradoxically may undergo severe throm- recessive in nafure5, and many reported cases are the botic episodes which are usually with dysfibrinogenemia result of consanguineous relationships between asympto- with fibrinogen replacementl. Pregnancy is or loss matic parents with symptomatic homozygote offspring. another common clintcal complication. Even in special- tzedlaboratories, the precise diagnosis of some fibrinogen In patients with afibrinogenemia, life -threatening hemor- disorders may be challenging. Chaructenzation the of rhages do occur, but in many sifuations the bleeding is not molecular defect(s) is important as it provides a more as severe as is seen in hemophilia. The diagnosis is often accurate diagnosis, may enable prenatal diagnosis, will made early in infancy, when prolonged umbilical stump help elaborate a dtagnostic strategy, and may distinguish bleeding occurs6. A major cause of death is intracranial in some cases those patients at risk of thrombosis rather hemorrhage during infancy or childhoodT. The clinical than bleeding. However, the phenotype-genotype correla- manifestations include mucosal membrane bleeding, such tion is not easy to establish, and global hemostasis assays as epistaxis, menorrh agia, or gastrointestinal hemorrh age. may provide a better evaluation of the patient's hemostatic A review of the cases entered into the North American statez. Rare Bleeding Disorder Registry indicated that most bleeding events were triggered by trauma, with only 20 to Fibrinogen is a 340-kDa plasma protein that circulates at 30% occurring spontaneously8. Patients with congenital a concentration of 1 .5 to 3.5 mg lml.It is the clotting factor hypofibrinogenemia do not typically have any spontane- I of pathway, and the precursor of the insolu- ous bleeding unless the fibrinogen level is <50 mgldl. ble end product of thx pathway, i.e. . Without fibrinogetr, not only clotting is impossible but also some A-or hypofibrinogenemia patients typically have prolonged clotting time (CT), prothrombin time (PT), Address for Correspondence: Dr. Mujahida Rahman Medical'Officer, Department of Hematology, BSMMU, Dhaka. partial, thromboplastin time (PTT), thrombin clotting time,

Mob. 017 12629 666, E-mail : dr.muj ahi da2l @gmail. com and reptilase time which are usually corrected when

6s BSMMU J Vol. 7 Issue 1 Jan2014

Patient plasma is mixed with nonnal plasma. Bleeding of the mouth showed a hematoma in the floor of the mouth time (BT) may also be prolonged and a possible explana- thatpushed the tongue backwards and blood tinged saliva. tion is mentioned earlier. When the fibrinogen levels are The hematoma caused difficulty with speech and low, the acquired quantitative disorder of fibrinogen, swallowing of food and saliva. She was or icteric; there namely, liver disease or disseminated intravascular coagu- was no lymphadenopathy, organomegaly or bony tender- lation, should be excluded. It is also reported in patients ness. Immediately aftq admission blood was sent for getting L-asparaginase for acute lymphoblastic leukemia baseline investigations including coagulation profile. Her

(ALL)e or an antithymocyte globulin (ATG) and corticos- PT was 40 sec (control 1 1.8 sec), APTT was 88 sec teroids for aplastic anemia (AA)10. Increased fibrinogen (control 28.8 sec), plasma fibrinogen level 50 mgldl, clearance was observed with massive hemorrhage, major D-dimer >10.0 mglL, Hb level 11.3 gmldl, Platelet surgery and advanced pregnancyll. 300,000/mm3, W8C9,000/mm3 (neutrophil 54%). PBF showed microcytic hypochromic anemia which might be Replacement of the deficient or abnormal fibrinogen with due to recurrent bleeding. RBS, SGPT, S. creatinine and frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate, or fibrinogen concentrate S. albumin were within norunal range. After transfusion of has been found to be effective and is indicated for any 12 vnits of FFP over 4 days of hospital stay her bleeding episode of acute active bleeding, preoperatively, and in stopped and repeat plasma fibrinogen level was I94 pregnant patients. Fibrinogen levels between 50 and 100 mgldI. mgldl are usually adequate for nofinal hemostasis, levels >100 mg/dl are recoiltmended for maintenance during Discussion: pregnancy, based on empiric clinical observations and 100-200 mgldl for surgical proceduresll. Each bag of Inherited a- or hypofibrinogenemia is a rare disease, with an estimated frequency one tn a individualsls. cryoprecipitate contains 250 mg of fibrinogen, and one of million bag of cryoprecipitate typically raises plasma fibrinogen The usual presentation is discussed above, which includes excessive tendency to bleeding after traumabut spontane- level of an adult by 10 mg/dl; thus 5 to 1 0 bags of cryopre- cipitate are usually sufficient in the average adult patient. ous bleeding at 50 mgldL level of fibrinogen is very young a Because the fractional catabolic rate of fibrinogen is 25% uncommon. So, this girl may be case of hypodys- assay fibrinogen was per duy, acute-c arc patients should receive one third of fibrinogenemia, but functional of are reports their loading dose daily for as long as fibrinogen support not avallable that time at BSMMU. There of hematomas under skin or within muscles, but submental is desir edz . hematoma is rare feafure. For financial constraint and given, Case report: unavailability fibrinogen concentrate could not be but the girl responded well to FFP and IN . special caution taken should be for menarche, A 12-year-old school girl from a poor family of Bijoyna- The and pregnancy. Increased incidence of first- Edt, Brahman Baria, was admitted into the Department of postparfum Haematology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical trimester abortion, placental abruption, and patients with University (BSMMU) on 11 July 2012 wrth uncontrolla- hemorrhage has been observed in ble bleeding from mouth for 2 days and a swelling in the afibrinogenemiare. Fefuses of female afibrinogenemic patients reach term unless replacement therapy floor of the mouth for the same duration. She gave history rarely full of prolong bleeding and also bleeding from umbilical is given. Moreover, though uncommon, there may excess chanee thromboembolism she would choose to take stump 4 days after birth. She had no family history of such of if bleeding or consanguineous marriage of parents. For oral contraceptive pills to avoid pregnancies. On the other unusual bleeding she was admitted to Dhaka Shishu hand, intra-uterine contraceptive devices may cause yagrfial Hospital in 2003 and several times treated with IA/ travnatic per bleeding. Consanguineous maffiage should also be discouraged to reduce the chance of disease tranexamic acid. On admission she had no other bleeding points or history of trauma to mouth or face. Examination in the offspring, and if available prenatal diagnosis may be

66 A Case of Hypofibrinogenemia Presentine with Submental Hamatoma Muiahida Rahman et al

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