Abstract

We assessed clinical presentations and the rate of central nervous system (CNS) bleeding in neonates with FXIIID who exhibited bleeding diathesis in the early days of their lives. A total of 27 neonates presented bleeding or abnormal clinical symptoms, diagnosed with FXIII deficiency were evaluated. Factor XIII concentrate was initiated as the first-line of treatment, and prophylactic therapy was given to all patients. Umbilical cord bleeding, delayed detachment of umbilical stunt, seizure, hematoma, and ecchymosis were concurrent complications in 27 (100), 5 (18.5), 5 (18.5), 3 (11.1), and 1 (3.7) of the patients, respectively. History of having CNS bleeding was detected in 13 (48.1) patients. There was no significant association between CNS bleeding and gender, familial history of FXIIID, or other clinical presentations. Also, there was no significant difference in the mean age of the patients who had CNS bleeding (3.4 +/- 0.9 days) and without CNS bleeding (2.9 +/- 0.7 days). However, a near significant threshold difference between the patients with and without CNS bleeding was found regarding the mean number of suspicious FXIIID death in their family (1.8 +/- 0.5 and 0.7 +/- 0.1, respectively, P = 0.05). Therefore, a suggested diagnostic algorithm based on prenatal diagnosis could be useful for timely detection of FXIII deficiency in neonates.