Running head: BLOOD DISORDERS

Blood Disorders Kara Gray HCA/240 December 12, 2011 Debra Saylers

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Blood Disorders Plasma is a very important of our blood. Plasma is responsible for carrying our blood cells, nutrients, amino acids, minerals, fats, salts, and sugars throughout our entire body. Plasma is also responsible for carrying hormones, antibodies, clotting factors, and waste (urea, carbon dioxide, and lactic acid away from crucial body parts. Red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen and nutrients to all the vital body parts and takes carbon dioxide (co2) back to the lungs to be expelled. Red Blood cells can be referred to as the ventilation system of our bodies. Platelets also known as thrombocytes are cell fragments that are involved in hemostasis. Hemostasis is what causes blood to clot. Average platelets live only five to nine days. Platelets are also responsible for releasing multiple factors for growth. A couple of these factors include TGF beta and PDGF. Both of these growth factors play a crucial role in repair and regeneration. Iron deficiency anemia occurs when there is a decrease of red blood cells in the blood due to a lack iron in the body. Known causes for IDA include rapid growth (puberty), an iron poor diet, long term, slow blood loss (like bleeding in the intestines), and the body failing to absorb iron into the blood stream. Iron deficiency anemia can be prevented and easily treated using diet and exercise. In instances where the body is not absorbing enough iron medication is usually administered. However, a diet high in iron and daily exercise is usually the best way to treat I.D.A. This diagnosis fits the symptoms that Lily presented with. Coupled with an iron poor diet, iron deficiency anemia matches the symptoms with the diagnosis. Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disease passed from generation to generation. The biggest trait associated with sickle cell anemia are the crescent shaped blood cells, this is an irregular shape for a red blood cell (healthy red blood cells are circular in shape). Sickle cell anemia is

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caused by an abnormal type of hemoglobin. This abnormal type of hemoglobin is known as Hemoglobin S. This type of hemoglobin changes the shape of the red blood cells into crescent or sickle shapes. This occurs when the blood has low oxygen levels. These irregular shaped cells are not capable of carrying as much oxygen as a healthy red blood cell thus depriving the body of oxygen. These irregular shaped cells are also very fragile and often times break apart and become lodged in smaller blood vessels and restrict the flow of healthy blood flow. An individual can only have sickle cell anemia if the trait is passed along by both parents. This means that if one parent passes along regular hemoglobin to the child, and the other parents passes along the hemoglobin S then the child is said to have the sickle cell trait. This is more dangerous to a child because with sickle cell trait the patient will not present with the symptoms of sickle cell anemia. The symptoms of sickle cell anemia include abdominal, bone, and chest pain, breathlessness, delayed growth and puberty, fatigue, fever, pale skin, accelerated heart rate, ulcers, excessive thirst, frequent urination, priapism (prolonged and painful erections), blindness or very poor vision, strokes, and ulcers. Testing for sickle cell is usually done by a complete blood work up that includes a C.B.C. (complete blood count), hemoglobin electrophoresis, sickle cell test, bilirubin, blood oxygen, periphera, smear, serum creatinine, serum hemoglobin, serum potassium, urinary casts, and a W.B.C. ( white blood cell count). There is no preventing sickle cell trait or anemia because it is a genetic disease. There are several options for treating the symptoms which include diet, and ensuring that blood oxygen is at one hundred percent. This can be managed with medication and often an oxygen machine is implemented into the care plan by the physician. Davon presented with no symptoms as would be the case for sickle cell trait. The doctor would have not thought to test for sickle cell because he would have appeared to be normal and sickle cell testing is not common testing for a regular check up visit. However,

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considering the fact that sickle cell is a known factor in the family. Testing for the sickle cell trait would be necessary to determine the unknown factors in the equation such as, was the trait passed on from mother to child, and I the child at high risk for developing sickle cell. Thrombocytopenia is the term used in medicine to describe a low blood platelet count. Platelets are the colorless cells that cause blood to clot by making plugs in the holes of our blood vessels. Thrombocytopenia usually occurs as a direct result of having I different disorder, like an immune system failure, a side effect from some medications, and leukemia. Symptoms include spontaneous bleeding from your gums or nose, unusually heavy menstrual flow, easy or excessive bleeding into the skin (petechiae) which is commonly found on the lower legs, profuse bleeding during and after dental and surgical work. To determine if a patient presents with thrombocytopenia a doctor will order a C.B.C test. A normal C.B.C. test will yield a result between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per milliliter. If the C.B.C. test comes back yielding a result less than 150,000 a diagnosis of thrombocytopenia is considered. The doctor will also complete a physical to look for the physical indicators (petechiae) to complete the diagnosis. He will also press around on the abdomen to check for an enlarged spleen. After the diagnosis in confirmed then your doctor will have other testing done based on your other underlying symptoms to diagnosis the disease that is causing the thrombocytopenia. Mild cases of thrombocytopenia may not need treatment because the problem resolves itself. For severe thrombocytopenia treatment includes treating the cause of the disease, blood transfusions, medications like corticosteroids, immune suppressants, or having a splenectomy. Treatment for the underlying causes may or may not be preventable or cured. Without further information we cannot state whether the underlying problem is preventable or curable, further testing is needed. Spencer presented with enough symptoms that match the diagnosis of thrombocytopenia so the

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diagnosis is confirmed however, further testing is needed to diagnosis the underlying cause of the thrombocytopenia.

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References
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007134.htm www.umm.edu/ency/article/000527.htm www.mayoclinic.com/health/desction/article/1999421.htm www.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090421204959.htm