Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

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Blood cells

TTP

• Fever
• Weakness
• Easy fatigue
• Pallor
• Shortness of breath on exertion
• Heart rate over 100 per minute
• Purpura -- purplish discolorations in the skin produced by small bleeding vessels near the surface of the skin
• Bleeding into the skin or mucus membranes
• Headache
• Confusion
• Speech changes
• Alterations in consciousness
• Yellowish color to the skin (jaundice)

• Platelet count is low
• CBC shows anemia
• Bilirubin is high
• Blood smear shows schistocytes and fragmented blood cells
• Urinalysis shows protein or microscopic blood particles
• Creatinine level is high
• Mucus membrane biopsy reveals platelet clots in small blood vessels

Review Date: 07/29/2005
Reviewed By: William Matsui, M.D., Assistant Professor of Oncology, Division of Hematologic Malignancies, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.