Question body: Hi, these are my mates blood test results, THEY have been slowly rising over the last few months. Any ideas what it could be? Lymphocytes 4.3 high Haemoglobin 159 high White cells 14.9 high Platelets 559 high Mcv 105 high Mch 36.9 high Mchc 353 high Neutrophils 8.3 high Monocytes 1.1 high
Answer: There are some possibilities; one of them is the Polycythemia, which characterized by increase in population of RBCs, some WBC, and PLT in CBC test results, Venesection is one treatment option. Another possibility is the excessive RBC making (erythrocytosis) which makes your blood thicker than it should be, and it could increase your risk for blood clots. early investigation and diagnosis can eliminate the risks.
Question: Hi has anyone’s children had low platelets and a slightly low white blood cell count? The doctor wants to repeat in 2 weeks. Obviously googled and scared the life out of myself! She did say a virus could of caused it which I said he had Covid 7 weeks ago! But I also forgot 2 days before the blood test he had diarrhoea and belly pains. So hoping that’s the reason. The platelet count was 108 and white cell count 4.12. Any reassurance would be amazing thank you!
Answers: If you sent a clear image for the real results, it would be better for reliable interpretation. Because declining in levels of PLT+WBC can be a serious markers especially if combined with Low Hgb, the complete results can clear misdiagnosis. Other causes of Low PLT with Low TLC may include: viral infection, therefore a previous COVID infection may suppress the work of the bone marrow leads to decrease in the numbers of white blood cells and platelets as well. another rare reason may be the pancytopenia due to bone marrow failure, the best evidence for that is the accompanied anemia and low RBCs. Diarrhea and abdominal pain can be due to some bacterial or viral infection of the type that suppress manufacturing of WBC and platelets or obstacle their function such as Typhoid which causes food poisonings
Bleeding, blood loss due to injuries, trauma, after surgery, or as a consequence of chronic conditions. The reasons why the bleeding and blood loss causing the platelets to go up in the CBC blood test because when the body losing blood, it calls the hemostasis system to compensate the loss especially if you bleed too much, therefore, the body system elevates the count of platelets to compensate as a natural surviving action and not due to effect of the disease itself.
What could be happen in platelets if you injured? When someone got injuries due to any reason, there’re three possible routes: First: the injured person may have got one or plenty of wounds and/or bruises with simple short-time bleeding, in this case the bruises lead to high-normal level of platelets count (e.g. 380), or may appear elevated to a mild degree (e.g. 460), while the normal platelets count is (150-450), example for this is the scratches and small skin penetrations by needle or a shaving-blade.
Second: an injured person got wide wounds with too many bruises and long-time bleeding, in this case the blood loss and accompanied inflammation can cause platelets increase out of normal range (e.g. 485).
Third: someone who injured or has holes inside his gut for instance which may bleed too much for a longer period of time (weeks or months), in this case the open wound can cause uncontrolled blood loss, blood loss cause large consuming of blood cells and platelets which lead to low platelets count in the CBC test (e.g. 96,000)
Causes of high platelets count due to blood loss, injuries and bleeding
Below are some examples of blood loss situations that elevate platelets count in the blood count test
Road accidents High platelets in a person who is a victim of a sudden road accidents. The blood platelet test may show an increase in the number of platelets, and that is for two reasons, the first is that there have been deep wounds that led to a big bleeding of blood, the second is that the patient has been exposed to large internal and external bruises that cause strong inflammations, which led to activation of all factors of the body’s defense against inflammatory agents including activation of blood platelets.
Gunshot wounds Also the penetration caused by fire–weapons can lead to death and of course if the person still alive, the platelets may show mild elevated to due both severe inflammations and uncontrolled bleeding.
High platelets in abdominal pain and chronic internal bleeding (e.g. peptic ulcers) The commonest source of upper gastrointestinal bleeding is the peptic ulcer in which thrombocytosis can appear as a secondary effect to upper gastrointestinal bleeding, GIT bleeding can be identified by endoscopic findings. If Untreated Gastrointestinal bleeding “medical term is hemorrhage”, the body compensates the platelets by increasing production of platelets into the bloodstream up to extreme levels “e.g. more than 800,000”, but if the bleeding prolonged it will be hard to normalize the count of platelets and may out of control or platelets may deplete as a result of increasing blood loss and exhausted bone marrow, you shouldn’t worry if GIT bleeding treated well then the platelets count must go down to the normal levels, essential thrombocythemia is suspected if the platelets still elevated in a treated GIT patient. Abdominal hemorrhage can be detected if you got blood in stool examination test with or without abdominal pain.
Case study:
Vomiting blood “medical term is hematemesis”, in which the patient expel blood from the mouth
Blood show up in the stool examination, black, tar–like, sticky stools which come from damage to the GI tract lining, prolonged bleeding then breakage of swollen blood vessels
Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed multiple duodenal ulcers with active bleeding and neoplasms.
The patient platelets count back to normal after receiving the appropriate treatment, thus the doctor rule out MPNs and consider the high platelets count is subsided after upper GIT bleeding. Examples of bleeding that cause blood loss but may not elevate platelets level in the blood test:
Bruises or hematoma, typically is a collection of blood outside of blood vessels, platelets accumulate and may form mild or serious clots as natural response, for instance, bruises that may appear as pinkish patches under the skin after drawing a blood sample by unexperienced person, but the platelets count in the drawn sample may or may not get elevated.
Scrapes, abrasions, lacerations (cuts), or crushing injuries, if they don’t penetrate the skin too far the skin can seal the wounds without elevating the platelets above the normal levels.
Puncture wounds from items like needles, nails, or knives considered simple wounds that can’t cause high platelets in the blood test unless they cause severe non–local inflammation.
Bleeding from inflammation due to bacteria infection Yes, some bacterial infections are able to cause a wound and a wide spot of inflammation, which attracts a very large number of blood platelets and this may explain why we see a high platelet count in a blood count test in bacterial infections.
Bleeding after surgeries can elevate platelets count As previously explained in this post “platelets count after spleen removal“, after surgeries the lab scientists notice sudden increase in count of blood platelets but shortly can back to normal limits, although the person might bleed too much during the surgical operation.
Autoimmune blood loss can raise platelets count
By this, we mean, that there are some diseases in which red blood cells broken down a lot more than usual, in this publication “why platelets count increase in case of sickle cells anemia?” an example of immune hemolysis that leads to an increase in the number of blood platelets outside the normal limit which left the affected person prone to bleeding.
Bleeding from breast cancers and uterine cancers can affect platelets level
How to read and understand you lab test results? If you have one or more causes of bleeding and blood loss and have had a complete blood count test, you may find some of these results in your lab report:
If you were asking what is the meaning of “MPV”? it means “mean platelets volume and help doctors to know the average size of platelets in the blood circulation.
PDW value can help doctors know if the platelets in your blood is circulating in a good aggregations or not?
Uterine fibroids or what’s medically termed “Uterine myoma or leiomyomas” are kind of abnormal growth of muscles in the uterine lining but it’s benign not a cancer and yet has no known reason. Pain in pelvic area, back pain, and heavy irregular menstruation (Menorrhagia) are of early red flags. Fibroids developed in the womb have many consequences such as low hemoglobin level (Anemia), elevated platelets count (Reactive Thrombocytosis), and large blood clots during menstruation, that’s because the fibroids produce proteins that make the blood vessels bleed within the uterine (i.e. local venous drainage) while the body can’t keep the blood regularly flow, thus the localized blood clots formed.
Yes, fibroids usually cause high platelets count (thrombocytosis) and anemia (low hemoglobin) but it’s not necessarily for all cases with fibroids to complain from anemia and thrombocytosis, the platelets elevated due to reactive disease which is the fibroids not due to a primary disease of platelets, hence the elevated platelets level is medically named (reactive thrombocytosis due to fibroids).
Why do Womb Fibroids cause high platelets count?
Fibroid formation within the uterine leads to too much blood loss along with consumption of iron which lead to low hemoglobin level and reduction in the count of red blood cells (Anemia), therefore the bone marrow produces lesser number of normal RBCs and excessively produces platelets in absence of Iron that is needed for RBCs making, so that the early stages fibroids can result in abnormally high platelets count in CBC test. As well as the produced RBCs during this condition is defected thus, they can’t work well, however blood can’t produce enough anticoagulants to keep pace with flow which promote abnormal blood liquefaction and lead to formation of blood clots that act as resistance for blood flow and result in increasing the size of the womb (enlargement of the uterine cavity).
Are fibroids of uterine elevating or decreasing platelets?
In fewer cases they develop thrombocytopenia (low platelets) after prolonged uterine fibroids, the reason is obvious which is the excessive long-term consumption of platelets and other blood cells during the fibroid bleeding. i.e. in the first stages, fibroid may elevate platelets (thrombocytosis) but in the late stage the platelets are deplete leading to low platelets count in the CBC test (Thrombocytopenia).
That was how do fibroid affect platelets count?
Platelets high appear in my blood test results while my uterine has fibroids, is that bad or good? should I be worried? Like fever when the body becomes ill, the elevated platelets count is one of symptoms and signs that may follow the growth of fibroids, which considered as one of complications as well. so that you should worry about treatment of fibroids rather than be concerned about the level of platelets.
What is the level of elevated platelets after fibroids in uterine?
Untreated Fibroids in the uterine can complicate to the degree of developing extreme count of platelets (e.g. more than 999,000), therefore, according to many scientific studies, the highest level of elevated platelets indicate the severity of fibroids formation.
How long do platelets remain elevated after removing the fibroid?
After surgical operation that remove the fibroid from the womb cavity, the platelets elevated as one of postoperative complications (e.g. thrombocytosis post-splenectomy), the elevation peaks within a weak or two after the operation and may remain high up to 2 months, then must back to the normal limit or the doctor may suspect that there’s another underlying disease that keep the platelets high in the blood count.
What is the Effect of Uterine Cancer on Platelets Level?
Can uterine cancer cause high platelet count? Yes, cancer of the womb can elevate the platelets count above the normal limit in the blood count test (Thrombocytosis) because the tumor mass will lead to localized inflammation, and you may know that the inflammation starts with increasing platelets level then increasing white blood cells. Endometrial cancer is another medical name for uterine cancer.
What is elevated level of platelets during cancers in uterine, ovaries, and cervical cancers? Some studies report that even the platelets result near the maximum end of normal (400,000) can indicate early onset of cancer. while platelets level up to 650,000 may be a marker of metastasis (i.e. spreading the cancerous cells outside the starter site).
How to tell if your elevated platelets count is due to uterine cancer? If you have some or all of below symptoms, then you must get diagnosis if your uterine develop cancerous growth:
Pelvic pressure or pain in the abdominal area.
Frequent urination and difficulty emptying the bladder.
Constipation.
Backache or pain in legs.
Menstrual periods lasting more than a week with Heavy menstrual bleeding. That was the best answer for what are the symptoms of a tumor in your uterus?
How does uterine cancer cause thrombocytosis? Platelets elevated during the growth of uterine cancer due to:
Estrogen and/or Progesterone receptors on the surfaces of most endometrial cancer cells is a reputable marker that predict womb cancers.
Obesity is a risk factor of womb cancer but do not necessarily cause cancers.
Hormone imbalance can lead to uterine cancers if remain long-time without proper treatment, however, blood tests for female’s hormones may appear normal in the lab results even though the woman have hormonal imbalance.
untreated chronic infections.
When should I worry about increasing platelets if I’ve uterine fibroids or uterine cancer?
Some of health risks may include:
If the platelets level exceeds the critical limits (999,000) which need urgent surgical intervention.
If the womb become larger and the bleeding become heavier.
If the platelets count still elevated more than 2 months after the date of operation and no response to healing process.
A pap smear can’t detect uterine cancer.
The best test to diagnose endometrial cancer is CBC test which can detect anemia (low hemoglobin) and thrombocytosis (high platelets) which both with other symptoms can help diagnosis of uterine cancer.
Sed rate test may be elevated to indicate the condition is going chronic.
