|  | Cancer | Chemotherapy

Platelets Chemotherapy Cancer Treatment

Chemotherapy cancer treatment has saved countless lives. Even so, cancer patients should be aware of the effects chemotherapy treatment has on blood platelets, which are a kind of blood cell.

  1. What are platelets?

    • According to the Hughes Cancer Center, platelets help the blood to clot and stop injuries from bleeding. Chemotherapy can cause thrombocytopenia, or low platelets, resulting in bruising or difficulty for the body to stop bleeding.

    Dangers

    • Low blood platelets caused by chemotherapy can become severe enough where patients are in danger of bleeding to death from cuts.

    Inside bone marrow

    • Platelets and other blood cells are produced in marrow located inside bones. According to the American Cancer Society, chemotherapy can affect production of platelets at this location.

    Platelet transfusions

    • According to chemotherapy.com, patients with severely low platelet counts may need treatments of platelet transfusions.

    Other treatments

    • Medicines are available to grow platelets. According to lowplatelets.com, doctors may treat some patients with drugs like Interleukin-11 to combat low platelets caused by chemotherapy. Doctors may also opt to reduce the amount of chemotherapy administered to a patent or change to another kind of chemo drug.

Chemotherapy - Related Articles