What kind of disease is idiopathic thrombocytopenia

Idiopathic thrombocytopenia is relatively easy to identify, mainly because of the prone bleeding in the skin and mucous membranes. When idiopathic thrombocytopenia occurs, patients must pay attention to abnormalities in their bodies and know how to identify them so that they can receive timely treatment.

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura is characterized by extensive bleeding in the skin and mucous membranes, mostly scattered needle-sized intradermal or subcutaneous bleeding spots, forming petechiae or ecchymoses; more common in the limbs, but can also be systemic bleeding spots or hematomas; some patients complain of massive epistaxis (about 20% to 30%) or gingival bleeding. Common symptoms include vomiting blood or black stools, which are mostly caused by swallowing blood when bleeding from the mouth or nose. True gastrointestinal bleeding is rare. Subconjunctival hemorrhage is also common. Gross hematuria is occasionally seen. About 1% of patients experience intracranial hemorrhage, which is the main cause of death from idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Excessive menstruation may occur in adolescent girls. Bleeding in other parts of the body, such as the chest, abdomen, and joints, is extremely rare.

In addition to skin and mucous membrane bleeding, only 10% to 20% of patients have mild splenomegaly. Acute exposure is often accompanied by fever. Severe bleeding may cause hemorrhagic anemia and even hemorrhagic shock. It is often accompanied by corresponding symptoms of local hematoma, and intracranial hemorrhage manifests itself as headache, drowsiness, coma, convulsions, paralysis and other symptoms. In addition to thrombocytopenia, patients with acute explosive disease often have damage to the blood vessel walls, resulting in heavier bleeding. Clinically, ITP is often divided into acute and chronic types based on the patient's disease course. The course of the disease is within 6 months, which is called acute type, and the course of the disease is more than 6 months, which is called chronic type. Some cases of acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura may become chronic.

Acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura generally has an acute onset and presents with systemic skin and mucous membrane bleeding. When the disease first occurs, ecchymoses often appear on the skin of the limbs. In severe cases, some ecchymosis may merge into flakes or form blood blisters. Bleeding or blood blisters often occur in the oral mucosa, and bleeding from the gums and nasal mucosa is also common. A small number of patients have gastrointestinal and urinary tract bleeding or retinal hemorrhage. Mild cases generally only show scattered petechiae and ecchymoses on the skin. Acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura is mostly self-limited, and 80% to 90% of patients recover within six months after the onset of the disease, and most of them improve within 3 weeks. In a small number of patients, the disease course is prolonged and turns into chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.