The natural history of RBDs is characterized by a lifelong bleeding tendency. Clinical presentation is highly variable, ranging from mild or moderate forms to severe forms with serious or life-threatening bleeding episodes. The bleeding Z-VAD-FMK research buy risks in affected individuals may, therefore, be difficult to assess [1, 32]. In contrast to haemophilia, in which FVIII or FIX levels <1% are usually associated with spontaneous and frequent joint bleeding episodes whereas patients with levels >5% remain largely asymptomatic,

there is a heterogeneous association between residual plasma coagulant factor activity and clinical bleeding severity in the various RBDs. The assays and reagents used to measure coagulation factor levels should be taken into consideration because there are often significant interlaboratory differences in factor assay results [10, 32]. Despite research efforts into RBDs, knowledge gaps remain, and randomized controlled studies may be difficult to conduct due to limitations in sample size and length of follow-up. These limitations underline the need to develop an accurate data collection tool, available to centres around the world, which would enable longitudinal and follow-up data collection. Patient registries, both national and international,

click here are powerful tools with considerable potential for rare disease research [33]. The European Network of Rare Bleeding Disorders (EN-RBD) was established to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice in the care of patients with RBDs [11]. The EN-RBD project, coordinated by the University of Milan,

Urocanase has involved 13 European treatment centres from 11 countries. Analyses of data from 489 patients registered in the EN-RBD were reported [11]. Abnormal bleeding episodes from mucous membranes (oral cavity bleeding, epistaxis and menorrhagia) are the most frequent bleeding manifestations in RBDs [10]. Abnormal bleeding from the skin and prolonged bleeding following trauma, an invasive procedure or surgery are also frequent symptoms [10]. The most severe bleeding symptoms, with a relatively high frequency of spontaneous major bleeding in joints and muscles, are found in patients with afibrinogenemia, FX deficiency and FXIII deficiency. Gastrointestinal tract bleeding and central nervous system bleeding are relatively rare for all disorders, except for FX deficiency [9]. Umbilical cord bleeding, typical of afibrinogenemia and FXIII deficiency, are relatively frequent also in individuals with FII, FV and FX deficiencies [10]. Results of the EN-RBD project demonstrate that it is not appropriate to use a single classification criterion for all types of RBDs [10]. A strong association between coagulation factor activity level and clinical bleeding severity was observed for fibrinogen, FX and FXIII deficiencies [10, 11].