Too many blood platelets: the serious arterial risk you run

Too many blood platelets the serious arterial risk you run

An abnormally high number of platelets in the blood increases arterial risk. These symptoms should alert you.

An individual has between 150,000 and 400,000 blood platelets per cubic millimeter of blood. THE platelets enter, with the red blood cells and white blood cellsin the composition of the blood and participate in blood clotting. An excess of platelets (a phenomenon called “thrombocytosis”) can be caused by an infection, an inflammatory disease (polyarthritis, etc.), occur after surgery or taking medication (aspirin For example). In any case, it must be monitored.

An excess of platelets promotes the formation of clots

Because “A too many platelets in the blood, such as more than one million/mm³leads a high risk of intra-arterial coagulation which can cause the formation of a platelet aggregate (clot) in a small arteryexplains Professor Philippe Hénon, hematologist and founder of CellProthera (French biotech at the origin of Cardiac Regenerative Therapy). There is then a risk of arterial thrombosis which may lead to a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or myocardial infarction. The risk is the same if the person has platelets that are in normal numbers but are “over-activated” (in other words, activated abnormally)“. And among the factors that “excite” blood platelets, we can cite non-exhaustively the tobacco (which explains that smokers are at greater risk of heart attack of the myocardium), the significant and regular consumption ofalcohol And diabetes.

The warning signs are brutal

L’transient ischemic attack (TIA) is the manifestation of training of a platelet aggregate in a small intracerebral artery. A “sort of pre-stroke” which is manifested by the appearance of the following symptoms:

► The occurrence sudden and transient loss of strength or feeling ofone side of the body (hemiparesis) : the person is no longer able to lift an arm or a leg (loss of coordination)

► The deformity on one side of the face (mouth for example), which we call a hemiplegia

► Brutal confusions, speech problems or difficulty understanding what others are saying

► A decrease in visiononly one eye

These symptoms start suddenly and most often last fora minute to about 1/4 hour, sometimes up to an hour. There are no after-effects if the AIT is treated urgently. “Indeed, AIT corresponds to the formation of a platelet aggregate which blocks transitorily a small arterial vessel in the brain, but not yet consolidated by plasma coagulation factors, the clot will end up being driven out or fragmented under the effect of blood pressure“, explains our interlocutor. However, being most often a harbinger of a stroke, the occurrence of a TIA requires emergency treatment to prevent the occurrence of this stroke, which is based on treatments that thin the blood.

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