[Prekallikrein (Fletcher Factor) Deficiency and Prolongation of APTT Reaction].
BACKGROUND
Prekallikrein (Fletcher factor) is a protein of the contact phase of the blood coagulation system. A deficiency is a very rare event. The clinical meaning is still unknown.


METHODS
In a 24-year-old patient of Croatian nationality, who has never suffered from any kind of proneness to hemorrhage, a considerable prolongation of activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was diagnosed preoperatively. The prothrombin time (PT) was normal. The patient had to be subjected to horseshoe-kidney surgery. CLOTTING TESTS: A very seldom Fletcher factor (prekallikrein) deficiency type II was detected. The activity was < 1%, but the prekallikrein concentration was normal, comparable to that in normal plasma.


RESULTS
Complications were neither noticed during renal surgery nor postoperatively. The patient did not show clinical symptoms. This fact corroborates reports about similar cases published earlier.


CONCLUSIONS
Nevertheless, attention has to be paid to these exceptionally rare symptoms, as in some publications, thromboembolic or even bleeding complications were reported.
Institut für Transfusionsmedizin und klinische Hämostaseologie, Städtisches Klinikum "St. Georg", Leipzig. hermann.dietzel@sanktgeorg.de
Hermann
H
Dietzel
Gerd
G
Lutze
Ralph
R
Kätzel
Karin
K
Liebscher
D000328:Adult; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006488:Hemostasis, Surgical; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000002:abnormalities; D008297:Male; D009392:Nephrectomy; D010314:Partial Thromboplastin Time; D011288:Prekallikrein / Q000032:analysis / Q000172:deficiency*; D011517:Prothrombin Time
D011288:Prekallikrein