Schistocyte quantitation, thrombotic microangiopathy and acute kidney injury in Australian snakebite coagulopathy [ASP28]

Abstract

Introduction: The major systemic manifestation of hemotoxicity in human snakebite envenoming is venom-induced consumption coagulopathy (VICC). A subset of patients with VICC develop thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), in which acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs. We aimed to investigate the association between schistocytosis in snakebite patients with VICC and AKI, compared to non-envenomed patients. Methods: Serial blood films collected from a prospective cohort of snakebite patients (Australian Snakebite Project) were examined. Cases were classified a priori as non-envenomed snakebites (normal controls), envenomed without VICC, partial VICC without AKI, complete VICC without AKI, and VICC with AKI based on defined clinical and laboratory criteria. The percentage of schistocytes between groups was compared and correlated by Kendall's tau b test. Results: Seven hundred and eighty blood films from 234 snakebite cases were analyzed. There was a statistically significant correlation (τ =.69, SE.03, P