Vitamin K deficiency

DEFINITIONS

Vitamin K is a generic name for a material required in the normal blood clotting. Its basic form is vitamin K1 (filokuinon), which is found in plants, especially green leafy vegetables.
Bacteria in the lower small intestine and large intestine bacteria in producing vitamin K2 (menakuinon), which can be absorbed in limited quantities.

Bleeding disease in the newborn characterized by bleeding tendency, is the basic form of the deficiency of vitamin K.

This happens because:
- The placenta does not deliver fat and vitamin K in both
- The function of the liver of the newborn is immature to produce clotting factors sufficient blood (clotting factors are proteins that enable blood clotting and requires vitamin K)
- The intestines do not have the bacteria that produce vitamin K during the first days of infant
- Breast milk contains little vitamin K.
An injection of vitamin K should be given to the newborn baby to protect from this disease.
Infants who received breast milk, which had not received an injection of vitamin K at birth, are highly vulnerable to deficiency of vitamin K.

Because vitamin K are fat soluble, diseases associated with the absorption of fat, can cause vitamin K deficiency in children and adults:
- Celiac disease
- Fibrostik cystic.

Mineral oil consumed in excessive amounts can also prevent the absorption of vitamin K.

Vitamin K deficiency also occurs in people who take anticoagulant medication to prevent blood clots.

The main symptom is bleeding (into the skin, the nose, from a wound or in the stomach), which is accompanied by vomiting.

Blood can be seen in the urine or feces.

The most serious was internal bleeding in the brain that can occur in newborns.

If suspected vitamin K deficiency, blood tests performed to measure levels protrombin, one of the blood clotting factors that require vitamin K.
Low levels (less than 50% of normal) showed a deficiency of vitamin K. But protrombin low levels can also be caused by anticoagulant drugs or liver damage.

Usually the diagnosis will be stronger if after injection of vitamin K, there are elevated levels protrombin within a few hours and the bleeding stopped within 3-6 hours.
If patients have severe liver disease, liver is not able to synthesize clotting factors despite being injected vitamin K. In cases like this is needed to complete the transfusion of plasma clotting factors.