[Postoperative Haemorrhagia in a Girl with Congenital Factor XI Deficiency - Successful Treatment with Desmopressin (DDAVP, Minirin(R))]

Unlabelled: The rare factor XI deficiency is associated with different profuse bleeding without correlation to the severity of reduction of factor XI. Accordingly, traumata or surgical procedures may cause unexpected excessive bleeding in asymptomatic patients. After surgery of a nine-year-old girl with factor XI deficiency (8 per cent) profuse bleeding occurred which could only be stopped after infusion of desmopressin. After administration the factor XI activity was increased to 31 per cent, the factor VIII even to 290 per cent over the normal range. We suppose that the favorable clinical effectiveness is not only related to the increasing factor XI activity but also to the elevation of the factor VIII/von-Willebrand-complex.

Conclusion: It is recommended to give desmopressin as firstline therapy of bleeding by factor XI deficiency since the only effective alternative such as substitution of factor XI by transfusion of fresh frozen plasma is associated with the risk of transmission of virus infections.