Kasabach-Merritt syndrome: identification of platelet trapping in a tufted angioma by immunohistochemistry technique using monoclonal antibody to CD61.

Kasabach-Merritt syndrome (KMS) consists of large and rapidly growing vascular tumors associated with thrombocytopenia, generalized petechiae, and bleeding. The cause of the thrombocytopenia is thought to be related to the trapping of platelets by the abnormal endothelium of the tumor. We report an infant with KMS that developed in association with a large tufted angioma. In this case we directly demonstrated platelet trapping in the vascular lumen of the tumor by an immunohistochemical technique using a monoclonal antibody against CD61, a marker of platelets and megakaryocytes.