Intracranial hemorrhage in infants due to acquired prothrombin complex deficiency

Abstract

The authors report 8 infants who had acute intracranial bleeding after the third week of life, in the absence of known trauma. When first seen each was moribund, pale, and had a tense anterior fontanel; half of the cases had associated ecchymoses. Spinal and subdural taps yielded large amounts of bloody fluid. Coagulation studies indicated a severe lack of factors involved in prothrombin complex formation. The clotting indices were sufficiently low to account for spontaneous bleeding. Satisfactory clinical and laboratory results were demonstrated after subdural and spinal taps combined with IV vitamin K and fresh blood transfusion to correct the coagulation defect and anemia.