Epistaxis Runs in the Family

Abstract

A 36-year-old male presented with multiple red spots over the tongue that appeared at the age of 10 years. In the past two decades, he had suffered from recurrent spontaneous episodes of profuse bleeding from the nose and tongue lesions, requiring hospitalization with multiple blood transfusions. He also complained of exertional breathlessness, easy fatigability, palpitations, and frequent blackouts for the same duration. There was no associated bleeding gums, abdominal pain, melena, seizures, visual disturbances, or hemoptysis. His recently deceased elder brother (in a road traffic accident) had similar mucocutaneous lesions and a history of occasional nose bleeding since adolescence. Their father, too, had non-traumatic epistaxis episodes and died at a young age due to severe hematemesis.