Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024523 (malabsorption)
 7,319 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The use of small amounts of a dilute solution of heparin (less than or equal to 100 IU) to keep indwelling intravenous needles or catheters patent for intermittent venous access either for intravenous therapy or timed blood sampling is a common clinical practice. It is considered safe since the amount of heparin required is much less than that required for heparinization. Herein, we describe a 13-yr-old patient with malabsorption who developed clinically significant bleeding shortly after a diagnostic test which required multiple small injections of heparin for intermittent venous access (total amount of heparin administered was 600 units over 5 hr). The coagulopathy was corrected by a single dose (10 mg) of parenteral vitamin K. As our patient had multiple risk factors for the development of vitamin K deficiency including malabsorption, decreased food intake, and antibiotic use, we postulate that the small amount of heparin precipitated the coagulopathy by increasing the antiprotease activity of antithrombin III on abnormal factors X and II formed in the vitamin K deficient state. We would therefore recommend administration of vitamin K to patients who are at risk of developing vitamin K deficiency before using even small amounts of heparin.
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PMID:Hazards of small amounts of heparin in a patient with subclinical vitamin K deficiency. 250 46

The present study was undertaken in view of the higher incidence of thromboembolism in patients with Crohn's disease. The blood coagulation system was studied in 12 patients previously operated for Crohn's disease (8 cases of ileitis, 4 cases of colitis) and followed as out-patients. In 75% of cases, the disease was in an inactive stage. Eight patients showed slight lipid malabsorption. Serum levels of fibrinogen, platelets and factor V were shown to be significantly increased (p less than 0.001) as compared to controls. Prothrombin time and factors II, VII and X were shown to be decreased, while factors VIII and IX and antithrombin III were not significantly altered. Thrombocytosis and hyperfibrinogenemia, as reported in literature, seem to determine a condition of blood hypercoagulability, playing therefore a primary pathogenetic role in the genesis of thromboembolism in patients with Crohn's disease.
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PMID:Blood coagulation alterations and thromboembolism in Crohn's disease. 664 10