TYK345
You are on a medical mission providing obstetric anesthesia in a developing country. The nursery calls you to help evaluate a neonate with excessive bleeding from his circumcision site 4 days after birth. Of further examination, you note that the child also has evidence of nosebleeds. Which of the following is the most likely diagnosis?
a) Medication error
b) Hemophilia A
c) Hemophilia B
d) Sickle cell disease
e) Vitamin K deficiency
Answer
Answer e. Vitamin K deficiency in newborns is common due to the poor transfer of vitamin K across the placenta and the low availability of vitamin K in breast milk. While this problem has been largely eliminated in developing countries, in developing countries vitamin K administration at birth may not occur, leading to symptomatic vitamin K deficiency.
Notes
- This question originally printed in the Pediatric Anesthesiology Review Topics kindle book series, and appears courtesy of Naerthwyn Press, LLC.