Experts Issue Guidelines on Managing Reproductive Tract Bleeding in Women

An international panel has released guidelines "to allow physicians to better recognize bleeding disorders as a cause of menorrhagia and postpartum hemorrhage so that effective disease-specific therapies can be offered."

Among the recommendations, published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology:

• Clinicians should consider an underlying bleeding disorder when a patient has any of the following: menorrhagia since menarche, family history of bleeding disorders, or personal history of "notable" bruising in the absence of injury. (The paper includes a complete list of other indicators.)

• When a disorder is suspected, clinicians should work with a hematologist to evaluate the patient's platelet number and function and coagulation profile.

• Treatment varies and depends on the patient's desire for future fertility.