Platelet Disorders

 
Platelets are blood cells that play a crucial role in blood clotting. If a fetus does not have enough platelets when it is born, it is at risk of bleeding within its organs or its skull. The condition of having low blood platelet levels is known as thrombocytopenia and affects 1/5000 births. Sometimes mothers may produce antibodies that kill fetal platelets if they too have a platelet disease. If a fetus is suspected of having a low platelet count, it may be delivered by cesarean section and treated with platelet transfusions and gammaglobulin.

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