Is Elevated Platelet Count A Cause For Concern?

Posted on Thu, 14 Jan 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 Answered on

Sat, 27 Feb 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : MY DAUGHTER IN LAW HAS AN ELEVATED PLATELET COUNT IN THE "MILLIONS"...WHAT CAN BE THE CONDITIONS RESULTING FROM THIS OR INDICATIONS OF CONCERN?

Answered by Dr. Shailja Puri (38 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Reactive causes to be ruled out to be the cause of thrombocytosis

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query on Health Care Magic.

High platelet count can be due to reactive thrombocytosis or essential thrombocytosis.

Reactive thrombocytosis occurs due to infection, inflammation, blood loss, allergy etc.
Thus, these factors need to be looked for.

If these factors are not present, then there is possibility for essential thrombocytosis.(ET)

There is no known cause for essential thrombocytosis. It is excessive proliferation of platelets without any known cause.

Certain investigations are done to rule out other common causes of thrombocytosis and to diagnose essential thrombocytosis like Jak 2 mutation.

Thus, I suggest you to consult a hematologist for Jak 2 testing.

Thanks and take care

Regards
Dr Shailja Puri

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee