Thrombocytopenia (patient information)

Thrombocytopenia
Overview
What are the symptoms?
What are the causes?
When to seek urgent medical care?
Diagnosis
Treatment options
Where to find medical care for Thrombocytopenia?
What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?
Possible complications
Prevention
Thrombocytopenia On the Web
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CDC on Thrombocytopenia
Thrombocytopenia in the news
Blogs on Thrombocytopenia
Directions to Hospitals Treating Thrombocytopenia
Risk calculators and risk factors for Thrombocytopenia

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

What causes Thrombocytopenia?

Thrombocytopenia is often divided into three major causes of low platelets:

• Not enough platelets are made in the bone marrow
• Increased breakdown of platelets in the bloodstream
• Increased breakdown of platelets in the spleen or liver

Your bone marrow may not make enough platelets if you have any of the following conditions:

• Aplastic anemia
• Cancer in the bone marrow, such as leukemia
• Cirrhosis (liver scarring)
• Folate deficiency
• Infections in the bone marrow (very rare)
• Myelodysplastic syndrome (bone marrow does not make enough blood cells or makes defective cells)
• Vitamin B12 deficiency

Use of certain drugs may also lead to a low production of platelets in the bone marrow. The most common example is chemotherapy treatment.

The following health conditions cause increased breakdown of platelets:

• Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)
• Drug-induced nonimmune thrombocytopenia
• Drug-induced immune thrombocytopenia
• Hypersplenism (swollen spleen)
• Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)
• Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

Where to find medical care for Thrombocytopenia?

Directions to Hospitals Treating Thrombocytopenia

Source

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000586.htm