Diseases of Blood Plasma Flashcards
What is a decreased / increased number of RBCs called?
Anaemia / Erythrocytosis
What is a decreased / increased number of WBCs (leukocytes) called?
Leukopenia / Leucocytosis
What is a decreased /increased number of platelets called?
Thrombocytopenia / Thrombocytosis or Thrombocythemia
How does a Vitamin K deficiency lead to bleeding?
Required to produce coagulation factors
How does liver disease lead to bleeding?
Liver produces clotting factors required for coagulation
How can infection/sepsis lead to bleeding?
Microthrombotic response - all of coagulation factors used up
What are the diseases of blood plasma?
Bleeding, thrombosis, hereditary angioedema, complement deficiency
What are the 7 major causes of thrombosis?
- Atherosclerosis
- Cancer
- Immobilisation
- Surgery
- Hypercoagulability
- Thrombocythaemia
- Factor V Leiden
How can atherosclerosis lead to thrombosis?
Deposition of lipids particularly in form of lipoproteins in areas of arterial wall –> plaque ruptures which drives thrombus formation
What is thrombosis?
Local coagulation or clotting of the blood in a part of the circulatory system
What is hyper coagulability? What is it caused by?
An abnormality of blood coagulation that increases risk of thrombosis
Caused by inhibitor deficiency (antithrombin, protein C, protein S)
What is hereditary angioedema caused by? What does it lead to?
Deficiency of C1 inhibitor
Leads to uncontrolled complement activation - swelling in face and neck
What is the complement system?
A part of the immune system that enhances (complements) the ability of antibodies and phagocytic cells to clear microbes and damaged cells from an organism, promote inflammation, and attack the pathogen’s cell membrane
What can a complement deficiency lead to?
Not enough complement activity - increased susceptibility to infection
What would a prolonged APTT and low levels of factor 8 indicate a diagnosis of?
Haemophilia A
What is the typical inheritance pattern for haemophilia A?
Inherited as an X-linked recessive trait, though there are cases which arise from spontaneous mutations.
What is angiodema?
An area of swelling of the lower layer of skin and tissue just under the skin or mucous membranes. The swelling may occur in the face, tongue, larynx, abdomen, or arms and leg.
The release of what 2 chemicals can trigger angiodema?
Histamine or bradykinin
Where does swelling from histamine-mediated angioedema tend to occur?
Swelling can occur at any site of the body, predilection for the facial area, particularly the lips and periorbital area
How can histamine-mediated angiodema be treated?
Anti-histamines
What is histamine typically released by?
Mast cells after exposure to an allergen
What is non-histamine mediated angioedema related to?
Bradykinin
How can bradykinin lead to angiodema?
Is a vasodilator that triggers blood vessels to widen and become more permeable, leading to swelling.
What is bradykinin-mediated angiodema sometimes a side effect of?
Medication for high blood pressure, including ACE inhibitors
