Fatal intra-cranial haemorrhage in 2 cases of beta-thalassaemia major.

Spontaneous intracranial haemorrhage is one of the cerebrovascular complications in beta-thalassaemia major patients. This is a report of 2 cases of fatal intracranial haemorrhage. Their ages were 12 and 7 years respectively, and they had been receiving regular blood transfusion for the past 3 and 2 years respectively. They developed acute onset of headache, loss of consciousness and convulsions at 5 and 2 days respectively after their last blood transfusion. C-T scan of the brain showed massive intracranial haemorrhage with extension into the ventricles. The spontaneous intracranial haemorrhages in these two cases was probably multi-factorial in origin. The predisposing factors included recent blood transfusion, prolonged prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time as well as reduced platelet count.