Bleeding disorders

Definition

Bleeding disorders are a group of conditions involving the body's blood clotting process. Such disorders can lead to heavy and prolonged bleeding after an injury.

Alternative Names

Causes

Normal blood clotting involves as many as 20 different plasma proteins, which are known as blood clotting or coagulation factors. These factors act together with other chemicals to form a substance called fibrin that stops bleeding.

Problems can occur when certain coagulation factors are low or missing. Bleeding problems can range from mild to severe.

Some bleeding disorders are present at birth and are passed through families (inherited). Others develop during certain illnesses (such as vitamin K deficiency or severe liver disease), or treatments (such as the use of drugs to stop blood clots (anticoagulants) or the long-term use of antibiotics).

Bleeding disorders can also result from having poorly working or too few of the blood cells that promote blood clotting (platelets). These disorders can also be either inherited or picked up (acquired). The side effects of certain drugs often lead to the acquired forms.

References

Kumar V, Fausto N, Abbas A. Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders, 2004.

Hoffman R, Benz E, Shattil S, Furie B, Cohen H. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Churchill Livingstone, 2004.

Soliman DE, Broadman LM. Coagulation defects. Anesthesiol Clin North America. December 2006;24:549-578.