Late-form hemorrhagic disease of the newborn - A fatal case report with illustration of investigations that may assist in avoiding the mistaken diagnosis of child abuse
Gn. Rutty et al., Late-form hemorrhagic disease of the newborn - A fatal case report with illustration of investigations that may assist in avoiding the mistaken diagnosis of child abuse, AM J FOREN, 20(1), 1999, pp. 48-51
Citations number
16
Categorie Soggetti
Research/Laboratory Medicine & Medical Tecnology
Journal title
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF FORENSIC MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY
Hemorrhagic disease of the newborn (HDN) is usually a self-limiting hemorrh
agic disorder of childhood that occurs as a result of vitamin K deficiency.
It may be defined as early or late form depending on the time of onset rel
ated to birth. HDN is recognized as one of several bleeding disorders that
can mimic the findings of nonaccidental head injury and may lead to a mista
ken diagnosis of child abuse. We present a single fatal case of late-onset
HDN with illustration of hematologic assays that can be performed to assist
the pathologist in making the correct diagnosis of HDN.