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Retired NBME 21 Answers

nbme21/Block 4/Question#14 (reveal difficulty score)
A 25-year-old woman has a 3-week history of ...
Autoantibodies against platelet glycoproteins ๐Ÿ” / ๐Ÿ“บ / ๐ŸŒณ / ๐Ÿ“–
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submitted by โˆ—cellgamesgojan(43)
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The patient suffered from Immune Thrombocytopenia. autoantibodies against the glycoproteins GP2B/3A.

On labs, youโ€™ll see: increase in megakaryocytes; on the question stem theyโ€™re described as โ€œrare but large.โ€ Megakaryocytes are not suppressed.

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ergogenic22  isolated thrombocytopenia (low platelets) should be highly suggestive of ITP https://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/0315/p612.html +3
pg32  I agree that in ITP you will see an increase in megakaryocytes, but where did you see that in the stem? Platelets being, "rare but large" doesn't mean megakaryocytes, does it? Also... can anyone explain why she was anxious but alert and had petechiae distal to the blood pressure cuff? +
meryen13  @pg32, I'm not too sure about the "anxious but alert" but I think they might wanted to mention she is oriented so in case there was no lab values, you would guess that she is not extremely anemic or something. and about the petechia with the cuff and the tooth brushing bleeds, that is a sign of platelet problems because its a superficial bleed. if you saw deep bleeds like joint bleedings, think about coagulation pathway problems (like hemophilia) +2
zevvyt  "rare" means thrombocytopenia. "Large" means there are megakaryocytes to make up for the thrombocytopenia +2
lovebug  FA2019, page419 +1



 +6  upvote downvote
submitted by krazyglue5(6)
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She has ITP/immune thrombocytopenia, so she has autoantibodies against her platelets, specifically GPIIb/IIIa. She has the large megakaryocytes because her bone marrow is trying to churn out platelets. Sheโ€™s a woman of child-bearing age with increased bleeding time but no other neurologic abnormalities/renal issues/fever, so think ITP.

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 +5  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—sahusema(173)
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I got tricked into picking the "acquired antibodies against P1A1". Human platelet Ag platelet antigen P1-1a, located on integrin ฮฒ3, is the main target for responsible for neonatal thrombocytopenia.https://www.jimmunol.org/content/194/12/5751

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cienfuegos  Same, except in my case I was the person who was tricked and who did the tricking though. Thx for the link. +1



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submitted by โˆ—amy(4)
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I got stuck on the no organomegaly...I had thought that immune thrombocytopenia would have splenomegaly since it is the destruction of platelet in the spleen, like many extravascular anemias that present with splenomegaly due to the overworking of this organ. But I learned my lesson, splenomegaly would NOT be present when destructing platelet.

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 -22  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—yotsubato(1208)
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She has Bernard Soulier Disease page 419 of first aid 2019

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sympathetikey  That's a genetic deficiency of GP1b -- not antibody related +11
alexandramda  In Berard Soulierd you have a Defect in adhesion. decreases GpIb and decreased platelet-to-vWF adhesion. Labs: abnormal ristocetin test, large platelets. +1
kayla  If one of the answer choices had included something that would indicate Bernard S. could that potentially be the correct answer? The clinical picture/ giant platelets seems legit ( and there is no mention in the q. about any Riscotin test--that would certainly be a way to definitively rule it out) any input appreciated, TIA :D +



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