A nulliparous woman is admitted to labour ward in established labour, she is in a lot of pain and asks for an epidural. The team note that a full blood count taken 2 days ago showed a platelet count of 48. Is this a real thrombocytopenia? What are the causes of thrombocytopenia in pregnancy? How are they treated? What about epidural or spinal anesthesia? Will she bleed? What if it falls further and she needs platelets?

Hi everyone,

This week I have a new guest on the show Dr Simon Kavanagh a consultant haematologist and we do a two part deep dive into thrombocytopenia in pregnancy, what are the causes, what to do and who to call! (hint they specialise in diseases of the blood.....)

Thanks Simon!

References

HOW Collaborative position paper on the management of thrombocytopenia in pregnancy - ANZJOG Jan 2021

This is published by Wiley and you may need to access it via your institution / library