Fingerprints: A simple method for Screening Hemophilic Patients.

BACKGROUND: The present study aims to compare hemophilic patients' fingerprint types with the normal people to help diagnose the disease, particularly new occurrences of the disease. METHOD: This case-control study was conducted in 2012. Sixty two patients with hemophilia type A and 62 normal healthy people were selected. The type of fingerprint was determined by a forensic specialist who was kept unaware of the participants' group. Using advanced Henry method, the main types of fingerprints were classified as arch, loop, whorl, as well as other types. RESULTS: In the control group, loop type (65%) and in the case group the whorl type (34%) were the most frequent fingerprint type (p < 0.001) and there was a significant difference of fingerprint in each finger between two groups. In addition, the average number of whorl type in the patients with mild disease was significantly higher and the average number of arch and other types of fingerprints was significantly lower than patients with moderate or severe disease. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study indicated that not only are the fingerprints of normal and hemophilic people different, but also a difference was observed between hemophilic patients with the mild factor level and patients with moderate or severe one.

Fat and bone marrow embolization in a donor as the cause of death in a lung recipient.

The cause of death in organ donors may have a great impact on organ recipient outcomes. Trauma is the prevailing cause of death among brain-dead patients in Iran and many other countries. Such patients may have many complications, among them vascular embolization with fat and other tissues. We have described herein a case of vascular embolization in a donor and its consequence on the recipient's outcome. The recipient was a 36-year-old woman with pulmonary fibrosis, who received a single lung transplant from a patient brain dead due to trauma. Donor had no obvious fractures; the oxygen challenge test was ideal. The harvested lung was normal upon bronchoscopy and it was clear on plain chest radiography. The day after lung transplantation, the recipient was extubated successfully with normal O(2) saturation. On computed tomography scan, there was a fixed infiltration at the base of the transplanted lung. On day 5 posttransplantation, the infiltrate expanded and the patient developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The patient's condition deteriorated rapidly and she expired on day 10 posttransplantation due to ARDS. The pathologic examination of the brain-dead patient, which was obtained from another patient's lung, was available after our recipient's death, showed massive vascular fat and bone marrow embolization. In the mentioned case, all criteria for lung harvest from the brain-dead patient were met. Looking for embolization is not among the criteria for lung transplantation if chest radiography is clear and O(2) challenge test is acceptable, but we observed a poor recipient outcome due to bone and fat embolization in the donor's lung. When transplanting from a traumatic patients, such complications should be kept in mind.