Case Report


Kasabach–Merritt syndrome, not only a pediatric condition: An autopsy case report and review of literature

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1 Department of Pathology, Northwell Health, Greenvale, NY 11552, USA

2 Department of Surgery, Lincoln Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10451, USA

3 Department of Pathology, New York University, Langone-Long Island, Mineola, NY 11501, USA

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Zarrin Hossein-Zadeh

MD, Department of Pathology at Northwell Health/Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra, Greenvale, NY,

USA

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Article ID: 100085Z11ZZ2025

doi: 10.5348/100085Z11ZZ2025CR

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How to cite this article

Hossein-Zadeh Z, Rivero-Soto R, Hon JDC. Kasabach–Merritt syndrome, not only a pediatric condition: An autopsy case report and review of literature. J Case Rep Images Pathol 2025;11(1):8–12.

ABSTRACT


Kasabach–Merritt syndrome (KMS), also known as hemangioma with thrombocytopenia, is a rare vascular disease characterized by thrombocytopenia, anemia, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and vascular lesions. It often occurs during infancy and the neonatal period and rarely in adults. The syndrome presents with consumptive coagulopathy initiated within a vascular tumor, mainly tufted angiomas or Kaposiform hemangioendotheliomas, and less commonly, hepatic and/or biliary hemangiomas. We report a case of a 41-year-old female with a recent diagnosis of biopsy proven biliary-type hemangioma of the liver, undergoing fertility treatment, who developed consumptive coagulopathy and disseminated intravascular coagulation shortly following a liver biopsy procedure, and ultimately demised. Based on the review of the literature, we present the first adult case of KMS where the diagnosis was made post-mortem. Given the rarity of this condition, particularly in the adult population, we believe our case adds value to the field of critical care medicine, coagulopathies, and forensic medicine.

Keywords: Consumptive coagulopathy, Hepatic hemangioma, Kasabach–Merritt syndrome (KMS)

SUPPORTING INFORMATION


Author Contributions

Zarrin Hossein-Zadeh - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published

Roberto J Rivero-Soto - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published

Jane Date C Hon - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published

Guarantor of Submission

The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.

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None

Consent Statement

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.

Data Availability

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Conflict of Interest

Authors declare no conflict of interest.

Copyright

© 2025 Zarrin Hossein-Zadeh et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.