Platelet Disorders: MedlinePlus

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Illustration of a field of red blood cells, including platelets.

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National Institutes of Health
- The primary NIH organization for research on Platelet Disorders is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Platelet Disorders

Also called: Thrombocyte disorders

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, you can be 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.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Basics	Learn More	Multimedia & Cool Tools
Overviews Diagnosis/Symptoms Treatment	Specific Conditions Related Issues	No links available
Research	Reference Shelf	For You
Clinical Trials Journal Articles	Directories Organizations	Children Teenagers

Overviews
- Platelets(University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center)
Diagnosis/Symptoms
- Bone Marrow Tests(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
- Platelet Count(American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
Treatment
- FDA Approves New Product to Treat Von Willebrand Disease(Food and Drug Administration)
Specific Conditions
- Bleeding into the Skin (Petechiae)(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Essential or Primary Thrombocythemia(Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) - PDF
  Also available in Spanish
- Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia(American Heart Association) - PDF
- Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
- Information about TTP-HUS(University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center)
- 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)
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Related Issues
- Platelets and Cardiovascular Disease(American Heart Association) - PDF
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Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Blood Platelet Disorders(National Institutes of Health)
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Thrombocytopenia(National Institutes of Health)
- ClinicalTrials.gov: von Willebrand Disease(National Institutes of Health)
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Journal Articles
References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
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Directories
- Find a Hematologist(American Society of Hematology)
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Organizations
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
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Children
- Von Willebrand Disease(Nemours Foundation)
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Teenagers
- Von Willebrand Disease(Nemours Foundation)
  Also available in Spanish
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