Hematuria: an uncommon presentation of Glanzmann's thrombasthenia-lessons learnt

A 55-year-old man with Glanzmann's thrombasthenia had recurrent episodes of gross painless hematuria for the past 30 years. His last episode of hematuria occurred a month ago, associated with pain in the right loin and was diagnosed to have a right mid-ureteric calculus. Under adequate platelet cover, he underwent right ureteroscopy. Postoperatively, he had persistent significant hematuria that did not improve despite repeated platelet transfusions. Factor VIIa was also transfused, without much benefit. A ureteroscopy was done, which identified bleeding from within the renal pelvis. CT angiogram confirmed the rupture of an artery supplying the interpole segment of the right kidney. Bleeding settled after angioembolization. Indiscriminate use of platelet transfusions would result in a state of platelet refractoriness. It is also important to suspect an iatrogenic cause for any complication that occurs after a surgical procedure, even if there could be an underlying medical etiology that can be attributed to the development of such complication.