High Wbc Petechiae Bruising Fevers Joint Pain

What happens if platelets are absent in the blood?

Depends on the cause — if there is a failure of production (aplastic anemia) or they have been consumed (DIC) then bleeding will occur in widespread sites, often from membrane and mucosal surfaces, and bleeding into the brain may be fatal. That is one reason why platelets are often transfused into patients whose platelets have dropped to a very low level. Interestingly in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) platelet counts may drop very low as they are consumed by antibodies in the blood, nevertheless even though the count may be close to zero, fatal intracranial bleeds are very rare with patients suffering bruising, nosebleeds or even GI bleeding but a benign clinical course.As a general rule most people will have a normal platelet count >150,000/mm^3 and symptoms of mild bruising do not appear till counts drop below 40–50,000/mm^3. At 10–20,000/mm^3 petechiae (pinpoint hemorrhages) and purpura (purplish bruises) appear in the skin. Once platelet counts drop below 10,000/mm^3 then nosebleeds, bleeds from the GI tract and intracranial bleeds are more common (but as mentioned above the likelihood of serious bleeding varies significantly depending on the cause).

What is acute myeloid leukemia?

Let’s break it down by word:-Acute: This means the disease progresses quickly, and will be fatal within a short period of time (maybe a few months) if not treated. This is in contrast to chronic leukemias, which progress more slowly and (many) people can live for years without treatment with a chronic disease. You might not even know you have a chronic leukemia for years.Acute leukemia cells are also less differentiated than chronic leukemia cells. What this means is that acute leukemia cells have started to proliferate out of control before they’ve matured, and they can’t perform their normal functions.-Myeloid: myeloid cells include your red blood cells, and many of your white blood cells, not including your lymphocytes (B and T cells). The white blood cells that are in the myeloid lineage make up your innate immune system. (The innate immune system recognizes and responds to pathogens, or “invaders” like bacteria or viruses, but doesn’t form a long-lasting immunity like the adaptive immune system does.)-Leukemia: cancer that starts in the bone marrow. Leukemia cells often end up circulating in the blood, and can also spread to other organs, but it starts in the bone marrow. Cancer can be thought of as unrestrained growth of cells.So, putting it all together: Acute Myeloid Leukemia is rapidly progressing, unrestrained growth of cells in the bone marrow that would normally make myeloid cells important for the innate immune system.This can result in anemia (not enough red blood cells forming), bleeding/bruising (not enough platelets forming), and infection (not enough innate immune system cells forming), and as a result of the build up of leuekmia cells (if left untreated), other cells in the body aren’t able to do their jobs.