Blood Discrasias Flashcards
What are the three categories of blood discrasia?
Clotting disorders
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC)
Neoplastic blood disorders
What are the signs of clotting disorders?
Spontaneous/excessive bleeding from minor tissue trauma.
-Persistent bleeding of gums, nosebleeds.
-Brusises
-Blood in sick/faeces
What are the types of clotting disorders?
Haemophilia A (deficiency of clotting factor VIII)
Haemophilia B (Christmas disease, deficiency of clotting factor IX)
Haemophilia C (Rosenthals, deficiency of clotting factor XI - mild)
Von willebrand disease
What is DIC (Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation)?
Normally, clot formation and fibrinolysis are balanced. However, medical conditions which cause systemic changes can release procoagulants that tip the balance in favour of clot formation.
Why is wide spread clotting bad with DIC?
Wide spread clotting can lead to organ damage, and the depletion of these clotting factors can lead to excessive bleeding.
What are the signs and symptoms of DIC?
Prolonged bleeding time
Acute renal failure
Low plasma fibrinogen
Haemorrhage
Petechiae
What are neoplastic blood disorders?
Neoplastic refers to over proliferation of a cell i.e. too much
What are some types of neoplastic blood disorders?
Leukaemia
Polycythaemia
What is polycythaemia?
-An increase in erythrocytes, granulocytes and thrombocytes.
-Leads to risk of thrombosis
-HTN
-Cardiac hypertrophy
-Spleen and liver enlargement
What is leukaemia?
A group of neoplastic disorders involving the white blood cells.
Hyper production of immature non functioning leukocytes in the bone marrow which are then released into the circulation.
As the number of leukaemic cells increase, they infiltrate the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, brain, and other organs.
What age groups are chronic and acute leukaemia more common in?
Chronic - more older people.
Acute - primarily in younger people.
What is acute leukaemia?
Characterised by a high proportion of immature cells.
What is chronic leukaemia?
Has a higher concentration of more mature cells, although their function is typically impaired.
What leads to signs of anaemia and increased/spontaneous bleeding in chronic and acute leukaemia?
Proliferation is so high that other cells are unable to produce, causing reduction in RBCs and platelets.
What are the signs and symptoms of leukaemia?
-Recurrent infections that are unresponsive to treatment
-Signs of anaemia
-Bone pain
-Weight loss
-Fever
-Spleen, liver and lymph node pain.
