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Abnormal vaginal bleeding in adolescence as the presenting symptom of a bleeding diathesis.

Menorrhagia in adolescents may be the presenting sign of a systemic hemostatic disorder. The evaluation of adolescents with menorrhagia should include an assessment of the pelvic organs to exclude anatomic pathology, and if none is found the possibility of primary hematological abnormality should be considered. Initially, a thorough personal and family history of a bleeding tendency should be obtained. Thereafter, we suggest a number of basic "screening" clotting assays be performed. These should include a platelet count, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen level and bleeding time. Abnormalities of any of these tests should then be further investigated using more specific clotting assays. The most common disorders reported to cause menorrhagia in adolescents are von Willebrand's disease, factor XI deficiency, and Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. General and specific therapeutic measures for treating these disorders are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Screening for a prothrombotic diathesis in patients attending family planning clinics.

AIMS: 1. To determine the frequency of prothrombotic markers in young women seeking a new or a repeat prescription of the oral contraceptive pill and perceived to be at high risk of thrombosis. 2. To assess cost-effectiveness of thrombophilia testing within this population. 3. To determine the frequency of acquired activated protein C (APC) resistance. METHODS: Results of thrombophilia testing were retrospectively reviewed on 220 consecutively referred patients' plasmas. Women tested were clients attending local family planning clinics for a new or repeat contraceptive prescription. Samples for testing were collected by the Community Laboratory Service. Investigations included: antithrombin III (AT III), protein C, protein S, APC resistance, factor V Leiden mutation analysis and anti-cardiolipin antibodies. RESULTS: Abnormalities were detected in 35 (15.9%) of the 220 women tested. No patient had all tests performed. The most frequently detected abnormality was an increased APC resistance in 6.8% of the women tested. Three of the 13 patients with an abnormal APC resistance had a discrepancy between the low APC ratio and a negative mutation analysis result for factor V Leiden, suggesting acquired APC resistance. Deficiency of protein C was found in 1.2% (of 162), protein S in 2.0% (of 140), antithrombin III in 0.6% (of 159). Low-titre anti-cardiolipin antibodies were detected in 13.9% of this group (115 tested). CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of abnormal thrombophilia markers detected in this cohort of young women is not significantly different from that seen in a control population. This low incidence suggests that testing has been applied on a population screening basis, rather than preselecting a high-risk group. Thrombophilia screening in this patient group cannot be justified when the clinically relevant end-point is death from pulmonary embolism. The cost of preventing one fatal pulmonary embolism arising as a consequence of screening for activated protein C resistance due to the commonly occurring factor V Leiden is a minimum $25,000,000. This compares very unfavourably with the estimated cost per life saved in the National Breast Screening Programme.

Activated Protein C Resistance↗