
Noticed Bruises On Legs And Arms. Cholesterol Blood Work And Cbc Fine. Chances Of Leukemia?

Thanks for the query.
Easy bruising can be for many causes such as
- Platelet disorders of counts like thrombocytopenia,
- Disorders of function like Glanzman syndrome where platelets are lazy i.e. normal in number but slow to clumping and degranulation.
- Deranged Prothrombin time (PT) /activated Partial Thromboplastin time (aPTT) secondary to many causes including iatrogenic cause by taking warfarin for cardiac arrhythmias
- And lax and fragile skin secondary to senile atrophy of dermis and reduced connective tissue supportive parenchyma and as a result of treatment with steroids.
So I believe getting her blood counts repeated along with Capillary fragility test can be helpful to detect bleeding tendency.
In the absence of other clinical symptoms leukemia is a rare possibility and complete blood counts can rule out leukemia.
Discuss about these possibilities with her treating physician and he/she can stream line these test for her. She also may be put on Vitamin C and Vitamin A supplement to improve skin texture and reduce easy bruising.
I hope this advice will be helpful. Let me know if you need more information.
Regards


Thanks for writing back.
Stream line here means getting investigations like PT/aPTT and a peripheral smear and getting them reviewed by your physician. You can also upload the reports here and we can discuss it on this forum.
Yes, such bruisability can result in bleeding internally in the abdominal viscera or the brain when they can be potentially life threatening. If the PT/aPTT and peripheral smear is normal, then I dont think we need to worry. It is the age related change which makes the skin more vulnerable, that we had earlier talked about.
I hope that helps
Let me know if I can address any more concerns.
Regards


The diseases Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and Amyloidosis and Cushing Syndrome are associted with bruisability but not as readily as yours!
About bleeding in mouth which can be produced by XXXXXXX sucking- many normal persons can have that,
Particular when you are using a tongue scrapper daily to clean your tongue, or in the conditions I have told you in the first answer.
You can take the Vitamin-C OTC preparation for about a month for a good strenth of your small blood vessels.
I hope this would be helpful.

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