Management of Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia – Guidelines based on an expert panel consensus from gulf cooperation council countries

Abstract

Glanzmann thrombasthenia is a rare disorder, due to quantitative and/or qualitative abnormalities of the platelet integrin αIIbβ3 and/or αIIbβ3. Although it is considered a rare disorder with a global incidence of 1/1,000,000 population, the case is different at the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, where prevalence rate as high as 1/40,000 in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. This makes it necessary to develop patient's management guidelines. Due to limited resources in the literature, experts' consensus was important to develop such guidelines. Experts panel elected to use recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) as the first line of treatment of acute bleeds and reserve platelets transfusion for nonresponding patients or severe bleeds, rFVIIa at high dose (270 μg/kg body weight) may tried upfront. rFVIIa may be tried as prophylactic treatment in patients with frequents bleeds. Experts panel elected to allow girls with Glanzmann thrombasthenia to have menstruation and to adapt a special protocol for this purpose (Madinah protocol). Pregnancy should be managed carefully, where normal delivery encouraged under coverage of rFVIIa. Risk of bleeding should be expected in neonates. Minor surgeries and dental workup can be managed under coverage of rFVIIa. Glanzmann thrombasthenia patients with severe disease should be encouraged for hematopoietic stem cell transplant.