Bleeding Disorders

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

• Living With
• Specifics
• Genetics

See, Play and Learn

• Videos and Tutorials

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Teenagers
• Women
• Patient Handouts

Summary

Normally, if you get hurt, your body forms a blood clot to stop the bleeding. For blood to clot, your body needs cells called platelets and proteins known as clotting factors. If you have a bleeding disorder, you either do not have enough platelets or clotting factors or they don't work the way they should.

Bleeding disorders can be the result of other diseases, such as severe liver disease or a lack of vitamin K. They can also be inherited. Hemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder. Bleeding disorders can also be a side effect of medicines such as blood thinners.

Various blood tests can check for a bleeding disorder. You will also have a physical exam and history. Treatments depend on the cause. They may include medicines and transfusions of blood, platelets, or clotting factor.

Start Here

• Bruising and Bleeding (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish
• What Are Blood Clotting Disorders? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Symptoms

• Signs and Symptoms of Bleeding Disorders in Women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Blood Test: Factor VIII Activity (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Blood Test: Prothrombin Time (PT) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Coagulation Factor Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• D-Dimer Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• MPV Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Prothrombin Time Test and INR (PT/INR) (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Blood Thinners: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Living With

• Treatments for Blood Disorders (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish

Specifics

• About Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish
• Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
• Rare Clotting Factor Deficiencies (World Federation of Hemophilia) Also in Spanish

Genetics

• Bernard-Soulier syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Complete plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Factor V deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Factor VII deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Factor X deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Factor XI deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Factor XIII deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Glycoprotein VI deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Prekallikrein deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Prothrombin deficiency: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Stormorken syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Thrombocytopenia-absent radius syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Videos and Tutorials

• Blood clotting (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Blood Coagulation Disorders (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Coagulopathy and acute pancreatitis: pathophysiology and clinical treatment.
• Article: Association between liver fibrosis and the in-hospital mortality in patients with...
• Article: The Nonlinear Relationship Between Temperature and Prognosis in Sepsis-induced Coagulopathy Patients:...
• Bleeding Disorders -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• Find a Hematologist (American Society of Hematology)
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
• Where to Donate Blood (Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies)

Children

• Blood (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Blood Transfusions (For Teens) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Women

• About Bleeding Disorders in Women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish
• Bleeding Disorders (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Bleeding disorders (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Bleeding time (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Partial thromboplastin time (PTT) (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Prothrombin time (PT) (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish