Fatal gastrointestinal bleeding in a case report of Coat’s plus syndrome()

INTRODUCTION: Coat’s plus syndrome is an extremely rare genetic syndrome that leads to a variety of symptoms. We are reporting a case of Coat's plus syndrome that had persistent GI bleeding and review of current literature. PRESENTATION OF CASE: The patient is a female in her 40 s with a history of coat's disease and end stage renal failure on dialysis. The etiology of renal failure was not discovered, and the patient was being worked up for a kidney transplant. The patient required admission after deterioration of nutritional status with a BMI of 14.3. During admission the patient initially had intermittent GI bleeding requiring weekly blood transfusions. On work up of the GI bleed, no etiology was identified either. As a result persistent negative GI bleed work up, we pursued alternative diagnoses. The history of Coat’s disease prompted us to work up the patient for Coat's plus syndrome. A genetic test confirmed the presence of CTC-1 gene mutation, which results in Coat's plus syndrome. With no treatment available as of yet, the patient continued to deteriorate into multi-organ failure. DISCUSSION: We present an example of GI bleeding in Coat's plus syndrome, only identified thru genetic testing, that is very rare and complex in nature. Despite numerous workups, no specific etiology was identified for the GI bleeding. CONCLUSION: Previous reports have not investigated cause of GI bleeding, since it is extremely rare in the literature. Further investigation is warranted to understand cause and effects of GI bleeding in this rare genetic disease.