Just What Is ITP?

Posted by Lew on November 23, 2009

Hi and thanks so much for returning to my blog. RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

As some of my audience is aware, my daughter Samantha has been having some issues for the past month now with her ” Blood Platelets ” count.

This started a few weeks back with a thirteen hour stay by myself, my wife and Samantha in the local hospital, Orange Regional Medical Center ( aptly named Horton Memorial Hospital ) on a Sunday evening.

I was texting about this little escapade from my Blackberry straight to Facebook, and of course my facebook family was nothing but supportive and I really want to thank all of them for that…unfortunately, our journey did not end with this one hospital visit..

Samantha has had two other hospital visits due to low blood platelet counts, and yesterday evening the incident happened again.

Today, Sam was finally diagnosed with a condition called ITP, which is short forIdiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

There is lot’s of reference material about this condition

Below is just the beginning of the info available about this condition…

Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Synonyms

• ITP
• Purpura Hemorrhagica ITP
• Werlhof disease

Disorder Subdivisions

• None

General Discussion

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a rare autoimmune bleeding disorder characterized by the abnormally low levels of certain blood cells called platelets, creating a condition known as thrombocytopenia. Platelets are specialized blood cells that help prevent and stop bleeding by inducing clotting. In ITP, there is no readily apparent cause or underlying disease (idiopathic). The cells of the immune system, lymphocytes, produce anti-platelet antibodies that attach to the platelets. The presence of antibodies on platelets leads to their destruction in the spleen. The disorder is characterized by abnormal bleeding into the skin resulting in bruising, which is what the term purpura means. Bleeding from mucous membranes also occurs, and may subsequently result in low levels of circulating red blood cells (anemia).

ITP presents as a brief, self-limiting form of the disorder (acute ITP) or a longer-term form (chronic ITP). Acute ITP accounts for about 90% of cases, and chronic ITP accounts for the remainder. Eighty percent (80%) of the children with ITP have the acute form while the chronic form affects mostly adults. The acute form usually resolves without treatment (spontaneously) within three to six months. When thrombocytopenia lasts for more than six to 12 months, ITP is classified as the chronic form. Onset of acute ITP is often rapid, while the onset of the chronic form may be gradual.

As I said, this is just the beginning, as I want to delve deeper into this condition and I want to have Sam possibly comment if and when she feels comfortable and ready.

Lew

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