Platelet Disorders

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Basics

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

Learn More

• Specifics
• Genetics

See, Play and Learn

• Videos and Tutorials

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Teenagers
• Patient Handouts

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)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia Antibody Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
• MPV Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• 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

• Splenectomy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• What Is a Blood Transfusion? (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) Also in Spanish
• 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)

• Article: Poor prognostic role of the pretreatment platelet counts in colorectal...
• Article: Clinical management and outcomes of patients with Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome pulmonary...
• Article: Ruxolitinib vs best available therapy for ET intolerant or resistant...
• Platelet Disorders -- see more articles
• Thrombocytopenias -- see more articles
• von Willebrand disease -- see more articles

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