DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i04.022

Pages: 1212-1216

Thrombocytopenia is a common clinical problem with many etiological causes. This may result due to decreased platelet production, increased destruction of platelets and differentiation in distribution of platelets. Although transient bone marrow suppression and marrow infiltration by malignancies are important causes, certain non-malignant condition such as infections and drugs are equally important as their treatment is simple and complete recovery is the rule. Detection of the exact etiology is important for specific treatment and prognostication. In this retrospective study, a total of 120 patients with thrombocytopenia from different departments of hospital were included, graded and evaluated for etiology. 66 patients(55%) were female and 54 patients(45%) were male. The patients’ age ranged from 6 months to 80 years. 35 cases(29%) showed Grade 1 thrombocytopenia, 17 cases(14%) Grade 2, 24 cases(20%) Grade 3 and 44 cases(37%) had counts less than 25000/cu.mm, i.e Grade 4 thrombocytopenia. Infections, leukemia, and immune thrombocytopenia represented majority of the cases, and the less frequent causes of thrombocytopenia were found to be drugs, chronic liver disease, multiple myeloma and others. The study concludes that thrombocytopenia has a wide spectrum of causes which can be diagnosed by detailed history and peripheral smear examination supported by bone marrow examination and other relevant investigations. The reasons of thrombocytopenia may differ according to geographic distribution and level of health center. In developing countries, high rate of infections was found to be the main reason for thrombocytopenia followed by malignant diseases encountered in a tertiary care hospital.