Heparin bleeding due to qualitative platelet dysfunction.

: On two separate occasions, a 26-year-old white woman bled from arterial puncture wounds while receiving heparin for thromboembolic disease. Bleeding time was prolonged after heparin administration at the time that she was ill and bled, and when she was re-challenged 2 years later. Heparin may produce bleeding as a result of a qualitative platelet dysfunction.