congenital fibrinogen deficiency

Fibrinogen deficiency

Fibrinogen deficiency, also known as factor I deficiency, is a rare inherited bleeding disorder related to fibrinogen function in the coagulation cascade. It is typically subclassified into four distinct fibrinogen disorders: afibrinogenemia, hypofibrinogenemia, dysfibrinogenemia, and hypodysfibrinogenemia. Congenital afibrinogenemia is defined as a lack of fibrinogen in the blood, clinically <20 mg/deciliter of plasma. The frequency of this disorder is estimated at between 0.5 and 2 per million. Within the United States, afibrinogenemia accounts for 24% of all inherited abnormalities of fibrinogen, while hypofibrinogenemia and dysfibrinogenemia account for 38% each. Congenital hypofibrinogenemia is defined as a partial deficiency of fibrinogen, clinically 20–80/deciliter of plasma. Estimated frequency varies from <0.5 to 3 per million. Dysfibrinogenemia may be congenital or acquired, and is defined as malfunctioning or non-functioning fibrinogen in the blood, albeit at normal concentrations: 200–400 mg/deciliter of plasma. The congenital disorder is estimated to a frequency varying between 1 and 3 per million. Congenital hypodysfibrinogenemia is an extremely rare, partial deficiency of fibrinogen that is also malfunctioning. Clinically, these disorders are generally associated with an increased diathesis, i.e. propensity, to develop spontaneous bleeding episodes and excessive bleeding after even minor tissue injuries and surgeries; however, individuals with any of these disorders may also exhibit a propensity to pathological thrombosis episodes. Treatment of these disor...