BETA - What is thrombocytopenia? How is thrombocytopenia monitored? How is Thrombocytopenia managed?

What is thrombocytopenia? Thrombocytopenia is low platelets. So if a patient were to have a value that's less than 150 or potentially 150,000, depending on how your institution reports the platelets, if it's lower than that, you're considered a thrombocytopenic. And really what that means is that you're at a higher risk for bleeding. So your platelets work in clot formation and wound healing. When you were to get a cut or have an injury, they kind of go to the scene and start to stop the bleeding. So you can imagine if those are low, that's not happening as quickly. Your bleeding will last a little bit longer and you potentially wouldn't heal as fast. In multiple myeloma, the myeloma cells can actually decrease the efficacy or how fast the platelets can work. Platelets can also be decreased simply by being on treatment as well or also while you're getting any chemotherapy or types of therapy for your multiple myeloma. What are signs and symptoms of low platelet count? Signs and symptoms of low platelets are going to include longer bleeding. So if you were to get a little cut or get a nose bleed or your gums start bleeding, that could be a sign of lower platelets. More easily bruising, so bruising in strange places can be a sign of low platelet count. which are little red spots that can appear on the skin where the blood kind of leaked through is also another sign of low platelets. What types of monitoring are done to detect low platelet count and how is thrombocytopenia managed? At home monitoring for those signs and symptoms and if you were to have any strange bruising, bleeding, the petechiae, if those occur, making sure that your doctor is aware, that's usually going to cue them to check your labs to draw that CBC or complete blood count which will give them the reading of your platelets. Now depending on how low your platelets are and your medical history and if you have any surgeries coming up, everything might alter how we answer a low platelet count or at what level we will respond to a low platelet count. Some things that can be done or that your doctor can order is going to include rhumoplastin which is similar to a growth stimulating factor for neutrophils, this helps to stimulate the production of platelets to help that count go up. In certain cases we can also give a platelet transfusion. Similar to a blood transfusion we can do simply just platelets so that we would be giving that to help boost that value. We don't typically hold unless it was severely low and the patients were having severe reactions like severe bleeding in which they were going to the ER or they were having other symptoms of bleeding where it wouldn't stop. Typically we're going to hold off until that situation is resolved and then start initiating those other treatment precautions or potentially raise the value to which we would give a transfusion. Typically we give patients less than 10, if their platelets are less than 10 that's when we're going to start giving a transfusion but if the patient is having, their body is just used to having a higher level we're going to listen to what the patient's body says so it could be less than 20, less than 50, whatever your provider thinks is safe for you at that threshold then we could give a transfusion and potentially increase the dose of any platelet stimulating medication that we would be giving the patient.