Abnormal platelet functions in beta thalassaemia.

Haemorrhagic tendency, including frequent epistaxis and easy bruising, has been observed in patients with beta thalassaemia major. Disturbances in the coagulation system were also described in this condition, which probably resulted from liver damage associated with this disease. There was, however, no quantitative or qualitative correlation between the haemorrhagic manifestations on the one hand and the abnormalities in the clotting mechanism on the other. Platelet functions were studied in 15 patients with beta thalassaemia major and in 5 with thalassaemia minor. In most of the thalassaemia major patients and in some with thalassaemia minor, diminished platelet aggregation to ADP, collagen, ristocetin and epinephrine was found. These anomalies could not be corrected by the resuspension of the thalassaemic platelets in normal plasma.