title: Platelet and coagulation studies in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
abstract: Fifty-one patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome were investigated for abnormalities of platelets and coagulation. Thirty-eight were examined prospectively and 13 retrospectively. A bleeding history was taken from all patients; only four (8%) gave no history of a bruising or bleeding tendency. Nine patients (18%) had significant haemostatic abnormalities of whom four (8%) had a platelet release defect, three (6%) had a factor XI deficiency and two (4%) had a factor XIII deficiency. Additionally 16 patients (31%) had mild abnormalities of uncertain significance of whom four (8%) had prolonged bleeding times (three in association with platelet aggregation abnormalities), 13 (26%) had platelet aggregation abnormalities and two had a positive Hess test. Twenty-four patients (47%) had normal tests for haemostasis of whom 20 (39%) had a bleeding diathesis and four (8%) had no such tendency. Results were analysed according to the type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, but there was no pattern to the abnormalities. The high frequency of a bleeding tendency in Ehlers-Danlos patients with normal tests for haemostasis (83%) supports the conventional explanation for this clinical feature, that defects in the structural integrity of skin and blood vessels lead to easy bruising.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Wycombe General Hospital, U.K.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anstey
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mayne
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van de Pette
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Pope
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001760:Bleeding Time; D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000502:physiology*; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D004535:Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D005176:Factor XIII / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010974:Platelet Aggregation / Q000502:physiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D005176:Factor XIII