Cryofibrinogenemia

RECENTLY, a sixty-four-year-old patient with lymphocytic leukemia of at least four years' duration was admitted to the St. Louis Veterans Administration Hospital with an acute illness that included ischemic necrosis of portions of the nose and toes, petechial hemorrhages in the skin, a severe hemorrhagic conjunctivitis and temporary loss of vision due to hemorrhage into the vitreous. Apart from leukocytosis, with an increased number of mature lymphocytes in the peripheral blood, the only pertinent laboratory abnormality was a large amount of cold-precipitable fibrinogen in the plasma. Unlike the usual cryofibrinogen, which is demonstrable only upon cooling of heparinized plasma, this . . .