Medical Help Desk

  Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare blood clotting disorder. It may happen if you have illnesses like sepsis, cancer or pancreatitis. What is disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)? Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare blood clotting disorder that can cause organ damage and uncontrollable bleeding. DIC is a complication of different serious medical conditions that can be life-threatening if you don’t receive treatment. Symptoms and Causes DIC symptoms may include: Uncontrollable bleeding from several areas of your body. Bruising. Confusion, memory loss or change of behavior. Difficulty breathing (dyspnea). Fever that’s more than 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius). What causes DIC? To understand what causes DIC, it may help to understand how your body makes blood clots. Your liver makes clotting factors (proteins) that stick to platelets in your blood to form a blood clot. Normally, blood clots stop or slow bleeding and start your

  Thrombocytopenia occurs when your bone marrow doesn’t make enough platelets. Platelets are blood cells that form blood clots to help stop bleeding. People with this condition may bleed a lot and the bleeding may be hard to stop. Thrombocytopenia affects people with certain medical conditions like autoimmune disease or who take certain medications.  Healthcare providers typically treat thrombocytopenia by treating the underlying condition and/or changing the medication that caused the issue . How common is this condition? People may have thrombocytopenia and not realize it because their symptoms are so mild. That’s why healthcare providers aren’t sure exactly how many people have this condition. They do know a related condition, immune thrombocytopenia, affects 3 to 4 in 100,000 children and adults. About 5% of people who are pregnant develop mild thrombocytopenia just before giving birth. People with severe thrombocytopenia may have an increased risk of developing the following condi