Maternal thrombophilia and adverse pregnancy outcome: a case-control study.

Objective: To assess the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in patients with acquired and/or congenital thrombophilia factors.

Patients And Methods: A cohort of 130 women with a history of pregnancy loss and no successful gestation were investigated for the presence of congenital and acquired thrombophilia factors, and then compared with a control group of 130 healthy women who had had at least one successful gestation and no pregnancy loss, and were screened for congenital and acquired thrombophilia factors.

Results: Acquired and congenital thrombophilia factors were found in 30 (23%) patients and in 14 (10.

Long-term evaluation of 164 patients with essential thrombocythaemia treated with pipobroman: occurrence of leukaemic evolution.

Essential thrombocythaemia (ET) is usually considered an indolent disease, but it may progress during its natural course into acute leukaemia (AL); however, an influence of myelosuppressive agents in the blastic transformation of ET cannot be excluded. We performed a retrospective study to assess the incidence of AL in ET patients treated with pipobroman (PB) as first-line therapy. One hundred and sixty-four patients with ET were managed with PB at a dose of 1 mg/kg/d until a stable platelet count below 400 x 10(9)/l was achieved.

Postpartum inhibitor to factor VIII: treatment with high-dose immunoglobulin and dexamethasone.

Spontaneous occurrence of an acquired inhibitor to factor VIII (FVIII) is a rare event. About 50% of cases are idiopathic. Among younger people, inhibitors are often found in the postpartum period.

Long-term follow-up of autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP) patients submitted to splenectomy.

We studied the general outcome in 94 adult patients with autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP) submitted to splenectomy. Of 84/94 patients who presented a complete or partial response 30 d after splenectomy, 16 (19%) showed one or more relapses. The clinical situation of the 81 patients still under observation is as follows: 13 unresponsive, 60 completely or partially responsive, without relapses during the follow-up, 8 completely or partially responsive after one or more relapses.

Acquired inhibitor against factor IX in a child: successful treatment with high-dose immunoglobulin and dexamethasone.

The occurrence of acquired inhibitor against factor IX:C is infrequent in haemophilia B patients and is very rare in previously healthy subjects, in whom it is often related to underlying diseases. We describe the case of a 2-year-old girl, who was referred to our hospital with haematomas, without previous bleeding history. Prolonged APTT, normal PT and a factor IX:C level below 1% were found.