Huge left atrial thrombus with mitral stenosis in congenital factor XII deficiency

Periodic painful purpura: fact or factitious?

A 60-year-old woman with multiple psychosocial issues presented with a history of spontaneous painful bruising on her left upper arm. Extensive investigations did not reveal any abnormality apart from an elevated activated partial thromboplastin time as a result of factor XII deficiency. An autoerythrocyte sensitization test reproduced the tender bruises on her back. Our patient reported relief of pain with promethazine injections. She was subsequently referred to the psychiatric team for ongoing assessment and management. Having an awareness of this rare condition will assist in the prevention of unnecessary investigation of such cases and will allow the early referral of patients for appropriate psychological counselling.

Lemierre’s Syndrome Complicating Bacterial Pharyngitis in a Patient With Undiagnosed Factor XII Deficiency

Internal jugular vein thrombosis occurs as an uncommon complication of oropharyngitis. The following case report describes a previously healthy adult woman who presented with sore throat, left ear pain, and fever. She was initially diagnosed with pharyngitis and inadvertently had blood cultures sent as part of her workup. She was then called back to the Emergency Department the following day for positive growth of the blood culture, and found to have thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein on computed tomography scan of the neck. Further workup revealed factor XII deficiency. The clinical course was further complicated by septic pulmonary emboli and disseminated intravascular coagulation. The patient was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics and anticoagulation and made a full recovery.

Genetics of coagulation: considerations for cardiac surgery

Genetic variants in the coagulation system have been known since antiquity. Today, because of modern improvements in diagnosis and medical management, the clinician is likely to encounter a spectrum of coagulation factor deficiencies and identified polymorphic variants in the surgical population. Because perioperative hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications are potentially serious, it is important to understand the role that these defects and variants may play in predicting risk and optimizing patient management. The implications of coagulation genetics on the perioperative management of the cardiac surgery patient are reviewed.

Subdural hematoma in a patient with Hageman trait--case report

A 61-year-old man with severe factor XII deficiency presented with a subdural hematoma appearing as mixed but mainly high density by computed tomography in the left frontotemporoparietal region. No cranial injury was reported in the medical history of the patient. Clotting system study showed less than 1% functional activity of factor XII, whereas the levels of the other clotting factors were within the normal ranges. Partially clotted and hemolyzed subdural hematoma was removed through a craniotomy. The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient later died of severe circulatory-respiratory failure. We believe that the subdural hematoma may have developed as a result of a minor head trauma sustained in the past. We suggest that impairment of fibrinolytic activation related to severe factor XII deficiency might have contributed to the delay of dissolution of the subdural hematoma which, under ordinary circumstances, would have formed chronic subdural hematoma.