What is Thrombocytopenia?
Thrombocytopenia is a blood disorder where the person has a low number of platelets in the blood and is at risk of excessive bleeding because of it. A sufficient amount of platelets in the blood is required for blood to clot, and clotting is the means by which wounds stop bleeding and the healing and skin regeneration process is able to begin. When the platelet count is low blood cells are unable to stick together, and this is essential for the clotting process.
The threshold for a normal platelet count is between 150k to 450k of them in one milliliter of blood, and any number below that means the person is considered to have thrombocytopenia.
What Causes Thrombocytopenia?
Thrombocytopenia is caused by related medical conditions or medication use most of the time. In rarer instances it may be familial, meaning that a has a person is predisposed to having low platelet counts because theyβve genetically inherited it from a parent. Medical conditions that can cause thrombocytopenia include leukemia and other cancers, anemias, viral infections like HIV or Hepatitis C, or alcoholism. Low platelet counts may also be caused by toxin exposures to pesticides or arsenic.
Autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, and pregnancy for women are also possible causes. Pulmonary hypertension is also known to have a connection to thrombocytopenia.
Medications that can cause this condition include Heparin, Alemtuzumab, Nivolumab, Fludarabine, Temozolomide, Pembrolizumab, Ibrutinib, Venetoclax, Losartan, and Doxycycline, among others.
Thrombocytopenia Symptoms
The most common of thrombocytopenia symptoms are excessive wound bleeding, pronounced skin bruising and blotching, red and flat spots on the skin, and body fatigue. Sufferers may also have an enlarged spleen.
Thrombocytopenia Treatment
For people with mild thrombocytopenia it is common that treatment is not required. If blood clotting is seriously compromised it is more likely that platelet-inducing medications like Promacta or Cyklokapron will be prescribed for thrombocytopenia treatment. Other possibilities may be blood or platelet transfusions, or a plasma exchange procedure.
A doctor may recommend spleen removal surgery for severe thrombocytopenia and the associated health risks of internal hemorrhaging, stroke, or heart attack.
