Acquired haemophilia in the elderly is a severe disease: report of five new cases

Citation
S. Godreuil et al., Acquired haemophilia in the elderly is a severe disease: report of five new cases, HAEMOPHILIA, 7(4), 2001, pp. 428-432
Citations number
28
Categorie Soggetti
Hematology
Journal title
HAEMOPHILIA
ISSN journal
13518216 → ACNP
Volume
7
Issue
4
Year of publication
2001
Pages
428 - 432
Database
ISI
SICI code
1351-8216(200107)7:4<428:AHITEI>2.0.ZU;2-V
Abstract
Acquired haemophilia is a rare but life-threatening bleeding disease that c an be observed in males or females at various ages. In the present study, w e report on five cases of acquired factor (F) VIII inhibitors diagnosed in the elderly population over a period of 5 years between 1995 and 1999 in ou r hospital. The median age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 76. 2 years (66-92 years). In all cases, the diagnosis was suggested by mild to severe bleeding with no previous bleeding history. While the absence of as sociated conditions is frequently reported especially among the elderly, in our series an underlying disease was found in four out of the five cases: kidney tumour (two cases) and autoimmune disease (two cases). The bleeding was controlled in four patients using porcine FVIII (two cases) or recombin ant FVIIa (two cases). The inhibitors were completely resolved in two patie nts (kidney tumour, GoodPasture syndrome) by treatment of the underlying di sease. However, three patients died as direct or indirect consequence of ha ving an inhibitor. Our series confirms and extends previous data reporting the complexity and severity of this disorder. Because bleeding is often sev ere, a prompt and correct diagnosis is required to provide adequate therape utic options that take the advanced age of the patients into account.