What should I do if my child’s platelet count is too low?

If a child's platelet count is low, it is very likely that he or she has thrombocytopenia. At this time, parents should take their children to the hospital for examination in time to find out the real cause of the low platelet count, and then treat the specific cause, such as taking medication. If the platelet count is very low, blood transfusion may be required. For the problem of low platelet count in children, the following is a detailed solution.

What should I do if my child’s platelet count is too low?

There are many causes of thrombocytopenia, including idiopathic thrombocytopenia and secondary thrombocytopenia. Secondary thrombocytopenia can be seen in infection, bone marrow aplasia, bone marrow hyperplasia, bone marrow space-occupying lesions, etc. If the specific cause of thrombocytopenia is not found out, it is impossible to carry out effective treatment. It is recommended to take your child to the pediatric department of a local regular hospital as soon as possible, and conduct a systematic examination and corresponding effective treatment under the face-to-face guidance of a doctor.

There are many reasons for thrombocytopenia, which can generally be divided into immune and non-immune. Both are due to reduced platelet production in the bone marrow. Immune reasons also include a large number of platelets being destroyed, resulting in a decrease. Usually a bone marrow examination is done. The drug for raising platelets can be injected with "intravenous human immunoglobulin", which is very effective! You will be back to normal in 5 days!

There are many causes of thrombocytopenia, such as insufficient platelet production in the bone marrow, blood diseases, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, megaloblastic anemia, certain bone marrow diseases, etc. Therefore, the cause must be clearly checked before treatment can be carried out.

If a child has thrombocytopenia, we must first check the extent of the decrease. If it is only a slight decrease and the total number is above 80, this is generally not a problem and will slowly recover.

However, if the thrombocytopenia is severe and bleeding spots appear all over the body, this is thrombocytopenic purpura, which is more troublesome and requires hospitalization in the hospital, and the use of immunoglobulin and hormones must be used during the treatment. Or, syndrome differentiation and treatment can be carried out according to blood syndrome. The main pathogenesis is heat, deficiency and stasis. The treatment should focus on clearing heat, cooling blood, stopping bleeding, replenishing qi and yin, and promoting blood circulation and removing stasis. At the same time, methods such as tonifying the liver and kidneys should be used to treat both the symptoms and the root cause.

Treatment of thrombocytopenia varies with its cause and severity; the cause must be rapidly identified and corrected if possible (eg, discontinuation of heparin in heparin-associated thrombocytopenia). Since repeated platelet transfusions will produce alloplatelet antibodies and reduce the efficacy, they should be used intermittently to prevent the production of these antibodies.

If thrombocytopenia is due to platelet consumption, platelet transfusions should be reserved for treatment of life-threatening or central nervous system bleeding. If thrombocytopenia is due to bone marrow failure, platelet transfusions are reserved for treatment of acute bleeding or severe thrombocytopenia (eg, platelet count < 10,000/μL).