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Information About Other Platelet Disorders

A low platelet count is often assumed to be ITP (immune thrombocytopenia).  However, there are many other possible causes of thrombocytopenia, with clinical severity ranging from trivial to life threatening.  ITP is a diagnosis of exclusion.  It can only be diagnosed after all other causes of low platelets are ruled out.  An incorrect diagnosis may lead to wasteful or harmful treatments.  This makes it important to know, or at least be aware of, other diseases that may be mistaken for or misdiagnosed as ITP. 

Distinguishing ITP from other conditions is usually done by a physical examination, illness and medication history, assessment of a blood smear, additional…

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 An Emergency Department Approach to Thrombocytopenia

Aside from the hematocrit, the platelet count tends to be the second most ignored lab value that is displayed on a CBC. This is often the case because most of the time the platelet count is normal or close enough to normal that it does not really change management of our patients. It’s not until that lab value comes back in red or abnormal that we pay any attention to it, but even then the etiologies for low platelet count is so vast that we often do not know how to approach it.

 An Emergency Department Approach to Thrombocytopenia

Thrombocytopenia is not necessarily what brings the patient to the ED, unless they were referred by their primary care physician it or made aware of it prior to arrival. This is because the presentation for thrombocytopenia ranges widely. Patients can present with vague symptoms like fever and loss of appetite or present with the more classic petechiae1/purpura2, mucosal bleeding, or spontaneous bleeding. There is no predilection for age or gender as any patient can present with low platelets.

 Approach to a pt with thrombocytopenia

Often asymptomatic when first detected (significant or spontaneous bleeding rarely occurs with a platelet count > 50 × 10E9/L; 5-fold increase in risk <50 x 10E9/L).

 What's Your Number? One Number Could Cost You Your Life

I recognized that numbers were important for telling time and one's age. However, it was only until 18 months ago that I realized one number could cost you your life, and that it could be my own.

Articles of Interest

Cutting the Risk of Tainted Platelets

Donated platelets are used to help blood clot in very sick patients, such as those who have suffered severe trauma or are undergoing a bone marrow transplants. Although AABB — the large blood-bank group — in 2004 adopted new safety measures to reduce the chances that donors’ blood or skin transmits bacteria to the blood bag, a risk of contamination remains.

Is thrombocytopenia a valuable tool for assessing malaria severity?

Low platelet counts have long been associated with malaria, and have recently been proposed as a valuable tool in the recognition of severe infections. However, the results of a study by Josh Hanson and colleagues in BMC Medicine suggest that the platelet count has limited utility for clinicians trying to identify patients with severe malaria.

Thrombocytopenia: Another Way for Doctors to Worry Moms

I wasn’t very worried. I figured my doctor knew what to do, and she wasn’t panicking. I was safe, and so was my baby. I did some Googling at home and found only one thing that concerned me. Apparently, if a pregnant woman’s platelet count dips too low, she may not be allowed to get an epidural.

What Do Low Platelets in Pregnancy Mean?

Low platelets can occur in up to 7% of pregnancies, but rarely are the platelets low enough to result in bleeding (<20,000). The three most common causes of low platelets in pregnancy are ITP, Pre-eclampsia and Gestational Thrombocytopenia.

Resources

10 Foods That Increase Low Platelet Count

While low platelet count treatment method like platelet transfusion is necessary for a drop of something like 10000-20000 platelets per mcL from the normal range, a subtler range of low blood platelet count can be simply dealt with an inclusion of just the right food intake.

Platelet Disorder Support Association

PDSA is dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with ITP and other platelet disorders through education, advocacy, research, and support.

Platelets on the Web

Provides up-to-date information on ITP, TTP-HUS (Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura-Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome), and Drug-Induced Thrombocytopenia. This site is sponsored by the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

Thrombocyte

Platelet information and blood testing laboratory directory.

Answering TTP

We engage the TTP community to further common goals by providing patient support and raising funds and awareness to help answer TTP with a cure!

ITP

ITP can strike as quickly as it can depart. ITP affects almost 10 times as many people as hemophilia, yet almost no one knows anything about it. It is not genetic and does not discriminate against its victims, as ITP attacks those from all demographics.

Naitbabies

www.naitbabies.org is a non-profit organisation that has been created to raise knowledge and awareness of a rare but potentially serious genetic disorder most people have never heard of – fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia...

Cancer.Net

People whose platelet counts drop while receiving chemotherapy may switch to a lower dose or wait longer between chemotherapy cycles. In addition, some patients receiving chemotherapy may be given a drug called oprelvekin (Neumega) to help prevent severe thrombocytopenia.

Cleveland Clinic

If your doctor feels that the thrombocytopenia is not a serious threat to your health, he or she may choose not to treat it. Your doctor may decide to treat the thrombocytopenia by treating the disease or condition that is causing it.

FP Notebook

Extensive resource for professionals

LifeExtension

Thrombocytopenia can arise as a result of complex interplay of autoimmune platelet destruction and impaired platelet production. This type of thrombocytopenia was historically referred to as “idiopathic thrombocytopenia,” since its causes were unknown; now that its pathophysiology is better understood, it is deemed “immune thrombocytopenia” or ITP.

MayoClinic

Thrombocytopenia can be inherited or it may be caused by a number of medications or conditions. Whatever the cause, circulating platelets are reduced by one or more of the following processes: trapping of platelets in the spleen, decreased platelet production or increased destruction of platelets.

MedicineNet

It is important to note even though the platelet numbers are decreased in thrombocytopenia, their function often remains completely intact. Other disorders exist that can cause impaired platelet function despite normal platelet count.

MedlinePlus

If your blood has a low number of platelets, you can be at risk for mild to serious bleeding. If your blood has too many platelets, you may have a higher risk of blood clots. With other platelet disorders, the platelets do not work as they should. For example, in von Willebrand Disease, the platelets cannot stick together or cannot attach to blood vessel walls. This can cause excessive bleeding.

Nplate

Nplate® is a man-made protein medicine used to treat low blood platelet counts in adults with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), when certain other medicines, or surgery to remove your spleen, have not worked well enough.

Patient

A low platelet count may be due to a variety of different causes - eg, the initial manifestation of infections such as HIV and hepatitis C virus or it may reflect the activity of life-threatening disorders such as the thrombotic microangiopathies.