Thursday, February, 09, 2012

Congenital afibrinogenemia

Table of Contents

Treatment

To treat bleeding episodes or to prepare for surgery to treat other conditions, patients may receive:

  • Cryoprecipitate (a blood product containing concentrated fibrinogen and other clotting factors) through a vein (transfusion)
  • Fibrinogen (RiaSTAP)
  • Plasma (the liquid portion of the blood containing clotting factors)

People with this condition should have the hepatitis B vaccine because transfusion increases the risk of hepatitis.


Support Groups


Expectations (prognosis)

Excess bleeding is common with this condition. These episodes may be severe, or even fatal. Bleeding in the brain is a leading cause of death in patients with this disorder.


Complications
  • Bleeding from the umbilical cord
  • Bleeding from the mucus membranes
  • Bleeding in the brain (intracranial bleeding)
  • Clotting with treatment
  • Development of antibodies (inhibitors) to fibrinogen with treatment
  • Gastrointestinal bleeding
  • Miscarriage

Calling your health care provider

Call your health care provider or seek emergency care if you have excessive bleeding.

Tell your surgeon before you have surgery if you know or suspect you have a bleeding disorder.


Review Date: 02/28/2011
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)