RECURRENT HEMATEMESIS

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Author: Pediatric Oncall

Question
A 4 months old boy born of non consanguineous marriage presented with repeated episodes of hematemesis 25 days ago. The vomit consisted of blood clots and he was admitted in a nursing home where stomach washes were given and which were also blood stained. He was alright within 3 days but again had 2 episodes of hematemesis in last one week. There was no jaundice or bleeding from any other site. There was no malena. He had not received any blood transfusion. On examination, all systems were normal. Investigations showed:
• Hemoglobin = 8.1 gm, dl
• WBC count = 11,800, cumm {13 percent polymorphs, 81 percent lymphocytes}, platelets = 5,90,000, cumm.
• USG Abdomen with colour doppler = Normal
• Bilirubin = 0.8 mg, dl, SGOT = 248 IU, L, SGPT = 123 IU, L, total proteins = 4.9 gm, dl,
albumin = 3.0 gm, dl {SGOT and SGPT also normalized in next one month}
• Prothrombin time = 14.5 sec. {prolonged} and partial thromboplastin time = 41.4 sec. {prolonged} which normalized after Vitamin K injection.
• Meckel’s scan = Normal
• Thrombin time, Platelet function studies = Normal
• OGD scopy = Advised but not done

Child was followed for 1 year and had no further episodes of hematemesis.