Low Platelets, Inactive on list

[cbatsea]

Has anyone had this issue?  Hubby has been put "inactive" because of low platelets.  He's had a bone marrow biopsy, which was normal, and a plethora of blood work...no cause can be found.  Now, they want to do a liver work-up, even tho he has NO liver "symptoms".  We are SO frustrated.  He's been on the list for the dreaded O kidney for almost 4 years.....I fear I will go insane, and he will give up....

[cassandra]

Hi I'd read before about the low platelets. It could have something to do with the sterilization method.
I'm on Nxstage 6 yrs now, but have always 'tanked' all the gasses out of the cartridge as it gave me asthma attacks. Maybe mention this to the neph, before all this extra appointment stuff?


Nb I 'tank' the cartridge by: load cartridge, connect to saline.
                                         With a 30ml syringe connected to cylinder (blue clamp) withdraw 5 x 30 ml air out
                                          (Closing clamp in between of course)
                                         Press fluid toggle, when the sound stops rising count till 14 (I know this sounds mad)
                                         Withraw 5x 30 mls again.
                                         And finish priming


Here's one article, just google there's more


  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26521886


Lots of luck and strength, Cas




                                         

[Simon Dog]

The term is thrombocytopenia.    I had them for a while and had to have platelet production stimulated prior to my hip job.   The drug was Nplate - an exotic ESA, about $1500 for a .2cc injection - but it worked.

This could work for a planned xplant, but not for one where you need to get surged now instead of in a few days.

There have been some cases of thrombocytopenia being induced by dialyzers that were sterilized with electron beam radiation rather than ethylene oxide gas.  I believe that NxStage uses the later.  There is also a condition known as "Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia".   

[cbatsea]

He's been tested for the Heparin thing...it's negative.  I've read that simply having the blood running through the tubes and machine can cause this....don't know anything about how Nexstage sterilizes the equipment.
At my wit's end!  He gets regular shots of Mercera and iron....still low.

[MooseMom]

Gosh, I had never heard of this.  I hope you get it all sorted out and will let us know how this problem was solved.