By EMottawa - Aug 27, 2015
"Platelets: too much, too little, don’t work. The approach to platelet emergencies is perhaps a little bit more complicated than that, so we attempt to breakdown a simplified approach to platelets in the Emergency Department (ED). Patients with various disease processes often present to the emergency department with critically low platelet counts.
When should we consider transfusing these patients prophylactically to prevent bleeding?
Some of these patients may require a procedure (such as lumbar puncture, central line or paracentesis) in the ED.
When is it safe to do these procedures? When should we consider transfusing during/prior to these procedures to prevent severe bleeding?
The following should provide a simple guide to some of these platelet-related dilemmas in the ED...
Take Home Points
