Template bleeding time and PFA-100® have low sensitivity to screen patients with hereditary mucocutaneous hemorrhages:: comparative study in 148 patients

Objectives and patients: We compared the template bleeding time (BT) and closure time (CT) in the PFA-100(R) as screening tests in 148 consecutive patients With unequivocal mucocutaneous bleeding and positive family history. Exclusion criteria: drug intake, concomitant diseases including minor infections, low platelet Count, diseases of secondary hemostasis. Results: Type I von Willebrand disease (VWD-1) was diagnosed in 26 patients, primary platelet secretion defect (PSD) in 33, VWD-1 + PSD in nine, whereas 80 patients did not comply with the criteria for known hemostatic disorders (UD, unknown diagnosis). BT and CT were prolonged in 35.8% and 29.7% of all the patients, respectively (P = 0.23). Sensitivity increased to 48% if an abnormality of BT and/or CT was considered. Same comparisons for BT and CT in each diagnostic category were. respectively: 42 vs. 61.5% in VWD-1 (P = 0.18), 42 vs. 24% in platelet secretion defects (P = 0.11), 67 vs. 89% in VWD-1 + PSD (P = 0.50), and 27.5 vs. 15% in UD (P = 0.06). Conclusion: Both tests were relatively insensitive and not significantly different in detecting incoming patients with mucocutancous hemorrhages. In patients with VWD-1 the PFA-100(R) performed slightly better, whereas the opposite occurred in those patients with platelet secretion defects. In the UD group, both tests lost sensitivity, but the BT detected 1.8 times more patients than the PFA-100(R). Given the large proportion of undiagnosed bleeders and the overall low sensitivity of these tests, clinical decisions still rely on the medical history and etiological diagnosis of the bleeding disorder.