The usefulness of the platelet function analyser (PFA-100) in screening for underlying bleeding disorders in women with menorrhagia.
The prevalence of underlying bleeding disorders is common in women with menorrhagia. This was a prospective study to screen for the underlying bleeding disorders in women presenting with menorrhagia by using the PFA-100 and comparing the accuracy of the results with the complete haematological assays. A total of 62 women referred to gynaecology outpatients with a history of heavy, regular periods had blood collected for analysis by the PFA-100 and also a full coagulation profile including von Willebrand factor. PFA-100 analysis suggested platelet defects in 10 (16%) women. This included five (8%) identified with von Willebrand disease, two (3.2%) with storage pool disorders and three (4.8%) without any recognisable platelet or bleeding disorders after a full coagulation profile, including von Willebrand factor, was carried out. PFA-100 results had a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 94.8% in our study. We conclude that PFA-100 is a quick and reliable method of screening for impaired haemostasis in patients with menorrhagia.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Bradford Royal infirmary, Bradford, UK. acharya.santanu@yahoo.com
S
S
Acharya
J
J
Barraclough
M S
MS
Ibrahim
C
C
Oxby
S E
SE
Jones
L
L
Parapia
P
P
O'donovan
D000328:Adult; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006474:Hemorrhagic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008595:Menorrhagia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010979:Platelet Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric