ITP Full Form | Full Form of ITP
ITP Full Form - Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
- ITP stands for Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura.
- It's also called Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura.
- It's a bleeding disorder in which the platelet count becomes very low.
- It always occurs when a person’s immune system starts working against its own body and destroys platelets which are responsible for normal blood clotting. So an individual affected by ITP may bruise or bleed easily due to the shortage of platelet within the blood.
- It can affect people of all ages and affects women more often than men.
Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
Symptoms
- Easy or excessive bleeding than usual
- Bruising areas on the skin due to bleeding under the skin
- Bleeding gums
- Blood in urine or stool
- Heavy menstrual bleeding
Diagnosis
- There are various health conditions which will cause low platelet count.
- To find out if the low platelet count is due to ITP, the healthcare specialist may study the symptoms, medical history and perform a physical examination including the following tests.
Complete Blood Count (CBC)
- It's a blood test used to determine the blood cells including platelets.
- In the blood sample of an individual with ITP, the RBCs and WBCs count are usually normal but the platelet count is low.
Bone Marrow Exam
- It's performed to check if the bone marrow producing sufficient platelets or not. So, this test is used to rule out the opposite possible reasons for low platelet count.
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Types
Types of Itp
- It is of two types: Acute ITP and Chronic ITP.
- Acute ITP : It's temporary or short-term ITP that lasts less than 6 months and mainly affects children. It often occurs because of a viral infection.
- Chronic ITP : It's long lasting, may continue for six or more months. It mainly affects adults, mostly women than men.
Treatment
- Like how often and the way much an individual is bleeding and the way low is that the platelet count.
- Its treatment gives emphasis on increasing the amount of platelets or to slow down the loss of platelets.
- The acute (short-term) ITP often goes away within few weeks or months. Medicines are often used as the first course of treatment.
- The mild cases of ITP usually don't require any treatment except regular monitoring of the platelet levels alongside medication. Because the platelet count rises the frequency of the medicines could also be reduced.
- In severe cases of ITP, when medicines aren't ready to maintain the platelet level, the spleen could also be removed to slow down the destruction of the platelets.