Spontaneous epidural and subdural hematoma in a child with afibrinogenemia and postoperative management

Congenital Afibrinogenemia and Hypofibrinogenemia: Laboratory and Genetic Testing in Rare Bleeding Disorders with Life-Threatening Clinical Manifestations and Challenging Management

Congenital fibrinogen disorders are rare pathologies of the hemostasis, comprising quantitative (afibrinogenemia, hypofibrinogenemia) and qualitative (dysfibrinogenemia and hypodysfibrinogenemia) disorders. The clinical phenotype is highly heterogeneous, being associated with bleeding, thrombosis, or absence of symptoms. Afibrinogenemia and hypofibrinogenemia are the consequence of mutations in the homozygous, heterozygous, or compound heterozygous state in one of three genes encoding the fibrinogen chains, which can affect the synthesis, assembly, intracellular processing, stability, or secretion of fibrinogen. In addition to standard coagulation tests depending on the formation of fibrin, diagnostics also includes global coagulation assays, which are effective in monitoring the management of replacement therapy. Genetic testing is a key point for confirming the clinical diagnosis. The identification of the precise genetic mutations of congenital fibrinogen disorders is of value to permit early testing of other at risk persons and better understand the correlation between clinical phenotype and genotype. Management of patients with afibrinogenemia is particularly challenging since there are no data from evidence-based medicine studies. Fibrinogen concentrate is used to treat bleeding, whereas for the treatment of thrombotic complications, administered low-molecular-weight heparin is most often. This review deals with updated information about afibrinogenemia and hypofibrinogenemia, contributing to the early diagnosis and effective treatment of these disorders.

Afibrinogenemia caused by a novel homozygous missense mutation, FGB p.Cys241Tyr, in a male patient with recurrent intracranial bleeding: case report and review of literature

INTRODUCTION

Congenital afibrinogenemia is a severe bleeding disorder, sometimes manifesting as thrombosis and/or pregnancy complications. Intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) constitutes the major cause of death in this disease.

METHODS

We present the case of a male patient with congenital afibrinogenemia, who presented with recurrent intracranial hemorrhages, despite prophylactic fibrinogen substitution. We also review the literature for the risk of intracranial hemorrhages in afibrinogenemia.

RESULT

Molecular analysis revealed a novel homozygous missense mutation in FGB exon 5, p.Cys241 Tyr, that was named "Fibrinogen Krakow V".

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Intracranial hemorrhage is a severe manifestation of afibrinogenemia, also in children. The clinical presentation of afibrinogenemia is variable. Fibrinogen substitution carries a risk of thrombotic complications.

Genetic Variants in the FGB and FGG Genes Mapping in the Beta and Gamma Nodules of the Fibrinogen Molecule in Congenital Quantitative Fibrinogen Disorders Associated with a Thrombotic Phenotype

Fibrinogen is a hexameric plasmatic glycoprotein composed of pairs of three chains (Aα, Bβ, and γ), which play an essential role in hemostasis. Conversion of fibrinogen to insoluble polymer fibrin gives structural stability, strength, and adhesive surfaces for growing blood clots. Equally important, the exposure of its non-substrate thrombin-binding sites after fibrin clot formation promotes antithrombotic properties. Fibrinogen and fibrin have a major role in multiple biological processes in addition to hemostasis and thrombosis, i.e., fibrinolysis (during which the fibrin clot is broken down), matrix physiology (by interacting with factor XIII, plasminogen, vitronectin, and fibronectin), wound healing, inflammation, infection, cell interaction, angiogenesis, tumour growth, and metastasis. Congenital fibrinogen deficiencies are rare bleeding disorders, characterized by extensive genetic heterogeneity in all the three genes: FGA, FGB, and FGG (enconding the Aα, Bβ, and γ chain, respectively). Depending on the type and site of mutations, congenital defects of fibrinogen can result in variable clinical manifestations, which range from asymptomatic conditions to the life-threatening bleeds or even thromboembolic events. In this manuscript, we will briefly review the main pathogenic mechanisms and risk factors leading to thrombosis, and we will specifically focus on molecular mechanisms associated with mutations in the C-terminal end of the beta and gamma chains, which are often responsible for cases of congenital afibrinogenemia and hypofibrinogenemia associated with thrombotic manifestations.

Women With Congenital Hypofibrinogenemia/Afibrinogenemia: From Birth to Death

Congenital fibrinogen disorders are a group of most frequent rare coagulation disorder, characterized by deficiency and/or defects in the fibrinogen molecule. Quantitative disorders include hypofibrinogenemia and afibrinogenemia. Due to their specific physiological characteristics, female patients tend to have congenital hypofibrinogenemia/afibrinogenemia, such as spontaneous recurrent abortion, menorrhagia, infertility, antepartum and postpartum hemorrhage, and so on. Current studies of congenital hypofibrinogenemia/afibrinogenemia mainly focus on different types of fibrinogen mutations, etiology/pathogenesis, and some rare case reports of the diseases. So far, there is no study available to systematically review the specific features of female patients with congenital bleeding disorders. This review aims to deal with hematological, gynecologic and obstetric issues, and relevant clinical management of congenital hypofibrinogenemia/afibrinogenemia at different life stages of female patients. We believe this review provides valuable reference for clinicians in the field of hematology, obstetrics, as well as gynecology.

Spontaneous acute epidural hematoma associated with chronic subdural hematoma due to dural metastasis of gastric carcinoma: a case report and literature review

Background: Non-traumatic spontaneous acute epidural hematoma (EDH) happening to chronic subdural hematoma (SDH) caused by dural metastases is a rare entity. Pathogenesis can be derived from infection, coagulopathy, and inflammation. Malignant tumors metastasize to dura mater is one of the most infrequent causes. The exact mechanism remains elusive in spite of several possible speculations. The clinical manifestations, management and outcomes vary among reported cases.Case Description: A 45-year-old woman without history of trauma presented with headache, vomiting and disturbance of consciousness and developed brain hernia rapidly. On arival, she has lost into coma with Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score 5, bilateral pupils were not equal, with disappeared reflectance. Emergency imaging prompted large acute EDH, combined with SDH, arising from dural granular neoplasm confirmed intraoperatively. Four days after surgery, the bilateral pupils were equal in size and sensitive to light reflection.Conclusion: Dural metastases can cause EDH, chronic SDH can also be resulted from metastatic tumors of dura mater. When dealing with spontaneous non-traumatic hematoma around the dura mater, to make the precise diagnosis is sometimes doubtful and confusing. The stream of diagnostic thinking should be opened, including medical diseases such as liver and kidney disease, drug history, history of cancer and other possible clues. Thus, a detailed and purposeful systematic medical history review and physical examination is important in order to make more appropriate strategies for the clinic.

Clinical Characteristics of Hospitalized Neonates With Hypofibrinogenemia: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Neonatal hypofibrinogenemia is often asymptomatic but can manifest as hemorrhage. Objective: This study was conducted to characterize clinical characteristics of neonates with hypofibrinogenemia and identify factors associated with hemorrhage. Methods: This was a retrospective study of neonates with plasma fibrinogen level (FIB) ≤1.0 g/L who were hospitalized at the Neonatology Department, People's Hospital, Chongqing, China, from January 2012 to December 2017. Based on severity, patients were grouped into severe, moderate, and mild hypofibrinogenemia (FIB < 0.5 g/L, 0.5 g/L ≤ FIB < 0.7 g/L, and 0.7 g/L ≤ FIB ≤ 1.0 g/L, respectively). Clinical characteristics associated with hemorrhage were analyzed. Results: Among 330 neonates, 52.7% showed mild hypofibrinogenemia, 25.5% had moderate hypofibrinogenemia, and 21.8% had severe hypofibrinogenemia. Severe hypofibrinogenemia was not associated with gestational age, but the mild form was frequent in neonates with low/normal birthweight (P = 0.018). Approximately 80.6% of neonates presented hypofibrinogenemia as variable combinations of thrombocytopenia or coagulopathies. Hemorrhage occurred in 38.8% of the cases, 60.9% of which were mild. Hemorrhage manifested as puncture site bleeding (47.7%) or spontaneous skin/mucous membrane bleeding (34.2%). The degree of hypofibrinogenemia was not associated with the severity or occurrence of hemorrhage. Among patients with hypofibrinogenemia and bleeding, 53.4% of the cases with coagulopathies showed mild hemorrhage, 85.7% of the cases with thrombocytopenia had moderate bleeding, while 53.8% of the cases with coagulopathy and thrombocytopenia showed severe hemorrhage. Conclusion: Neonatal hypofibrinogenemia is often comorbid and occurs with thrombocytopenia and/or coagulopathies. Although hemorrhage is not associated with the degree of hypofibrinogenemia, it may be severe when hypofibrinogenemia co-occurs with coagulopathies and/or thrombocytopenia.

Congenital afibrinogenemia: from etiopathogenesis to challenging clinical management

INTRODUCTION

Congenital afibrinogenemia belongs to the group of autosomal recessive bleeding disorders and represents the absolute deficiency of fibrinogen detected by an antigenic test. This can lead to severe clinical manifestations of the disorder. Therefore, it is very important to take afibrinogenemia into account in the process of the differential diagnostics of the patients.

AREAS COVERED

The authors provide a summary of currently available literature about afibrinogenemia. They collected the information from the scientific journals dedicated to thrombosis and hemostasis and searched world-wide databases. Expert commentary: The most frequent clinical manifestation of this disorder is mucosal bleeding, but musculoskeletal bleeding pattern, gynecologic and obstetric issues, spontaneous bleeding, episodes provoked by minor injury or any other intervention, and even paradoxical thromboembolic events have been published. Afibrinogenemia is the consequence of mutations of the homozygous or compound heterozygous type in gene FGA, FGB or FGG encoding fibrinogen. Pregnant women with a family history, or with a history of consanguinity ought to be properly counselled. However, primary prophylaxis of bleeding events is not suggested. The article deals with actual information about afibrinogenemia contributing to its early diagnosis and effective treatment, which in many cases requires multidisciplinary approach.