Platelet Disorders

Also called: Thrombocyte disorders

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Summary

Platelets are little pieces of blood cells. Platelets help wounds heal and prevent bleeding by forming blood clots. Your bone marrow makes platelets. Problems can result from having too few or too many platelets, or from platelets that do not work properly.

If your blood has a low number of platelets, it is called thrombocytopenia. This can put you 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.

Treatment of platelet disorders depends on the cause.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Start Here

Platelets (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center)

Symptoms

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Thrombocytopenia? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Diagnosis and Tests

Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia Antibody Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
How Are Thrombocythemia and Thrombocytosis Diagnosed? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is Immune Thrombocytopenia Diagnosed? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is Thrombocytopenia Diagnosed? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Diagnosed? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is von Willebrand Disease Diagnosed? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Platelet Count (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
Platelet Function Tests (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
von Willebrand Factor Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
What Are Bone Marrow Tests? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Treatments and Therapies

How Are Thrombocythemia and Thrombocytosis Treated? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is Immune Thrombocytopenia Treated? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is Thrombocytopenia Treated? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Treated? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
How Is von Willebrand Disease Treated? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Splenectomy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
What Is a Blood Transfusion? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Living With

Living with Immune Thrombocytopenia (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Living with Thrombocytopenia (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Living with Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Living with von Willebrand Disease (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Related Issues

What Causes Thrombocythemia and Thrombocytosis? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
What Causes Thrombocytopenia? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
What Causes Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Specifics

Bernard-Soulier Syndrome (World Federation of Hemophilia)
Glanzmann Thrombasthenia (World Federation of Hemophilia) Also in Spanish
Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia (American Heart Association) - PDF
Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Immune Thrombocytopenia (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Information about TTP-HUS (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center)
Petechiae (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Storage Pool Deficiencies (World Federation of Hemophilia) Also in Spanish
Thrombocythemia and Thrombocytosis (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Thrombocytopenia (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Thrombocytosis (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
von Willebrand Disease (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Genetics

Genetics Home Reference: atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: Bernard-Soulier syndrome (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: dyserythropoietic anemia and thrombocytopenia (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: essential thrombocythemia (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: Glanzmann thrombasthenia (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: gray platelet syndrome (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: immune thrombocytopenia (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: Jacobsen syndrome (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: MYH9-related disorder (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: von Willebrand disease (National Library of Medicine)
Genetics Home Reference: X-linked thrombocytopenia (National Library of Medicine)

Videos and Tutorials

Blood clotting (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Blood Platelet Disorders (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: Thrombocytopenia (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: von Willebrand Diseases (National Institutes of Health)

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

Find an Expert

Find a Hematologist (American Society of Hematology)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Children

von Willebrand Disease (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)

Teenagers

von Willebrand Disease (Nemours Foundation)

Patient Handouts

Bleeding time (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Congenital platelet function defects (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Glanzmann disease (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Partial thromboplastin time (PTT) (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Platelet aggregation test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Primary thrombocythemia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Purpura (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Thrombocytopenia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Thromobocytopenia - drug-induced (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish