Thrombocytopenia - Symptom, Treatment And Causes

Thrombocytopenia is a blood disorder, in which there is a relative decrease in platelets (thrombocytes) in the blood of the patient.Normally the blood platelet count in a normal adult human is in between 1, 50,000-4, 50,000 platelets per microliter of blood. However owing to disease conditions or any other cause when the platelet count falls below 50, 000 per microliter, it requires emergency treatment.

Thrombocytopenia is a blood disorder, in which there is a relative decrease in platelets (thrombocytes) in the blood of the patient.Normally the blood platelet count in a normal adult human is in between 1, 50,000-4, 50,000 platelets per microliter of blood. However owing to disease conditions or any other cause when the platelet count falls below 50, 000 per microliter, it requires emergency treatment.

Decreased thrombocyte production in the body can be for the following undermentioned reasons:

• Dehydration
• Folic acid and Vitamin B12 deficiency
• Aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic or leukemia
• Hepatic failure
• Bacterial infection, systemic viral infection and sepsis
• Leptospirosis
• Thrombocytopenia absent radius syndrome
• Bernard-Soulier syndrome
• Congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia
• Fanconi anemia
• Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome
• May-Hegglin anomaly
• Alport syndrome
• Grey platelet syndrome

Apart from these thrombocytopenia can also be inherited or acquired.

Laboratory tests that are used for diagnosis of this disease are liver enzyme, vitamin B12 levels, full blood count, kidney function, folic acid levels, peripheral blood smear and erythrocyte sedimentation rate test. When in spite of all these battery of tests, doctors fail to understand the underlying causes of this blood anomaly, a bone marrow biopsy is generally recommended to the patient to find out if the loss in blood platelet count is because of peripheral destruction or just decreased production of the thrombocytes.

It has been noticed that thrombocytopenia in alcoholics who has been hospitalized can cause foliate deficiency, enlargement of their spleen. However, although alcohol affects the survival time, production and function of the platelets in alcoholic patients, platelet counts begin to rise after 2 to 3 days’ abstinence from alcohol.