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Glanzmann thrombasthenia in children from Argentina
B Sassetti1, A Lajmanovich, A Vázquez
1Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Purpose:
Glanzmann thrombasthenia is a well-defined inherited disorder of platelet function characterized by a decrease or absence of functional platelet glycoprotein (GP) GPIIbIIIa. The diagnosis must be considered in patients presenting with mucocutaneous bleeding, purpura, a normal platelet count, abnormal platelet aggregation, and a prolonged bleeding time. In most of the patients, the presence of small amounts of either GPIIb or GPIIIa was detected in their platelets. These observations could provide a basis for determining the clinical and laboratory heterogeneity of the disease.
Patients And Methods:
We studied 10 patients of seven unrelated families with the usual methods and an immunoalkaline phosphatase technique (APAAP) to analyze the biosynthesis of GP in megakaryocytes.
Results:
The results allowed us to classify six patients as GT type I, three as type II, and one as a variant.
Conclusion:
The nature and severity of the bleeding manifestations, in our patients, were not predictible by the laboratory findings. These confirm the clinical and laboratory heterogeneity of the disease.