Are there consensus guidelines on platelet count?
Doug: In general most physicians would be comfortable saying that a patient who has no special risk because of co-morbid conditions or unusual life contingencies and whose platelet count is above 50,000 probably doesn’t need any type of chronic ongoing treatment. Many experts would agree that if the platelet count is below 20,000, the patient probably is at some risk, but not every patient. Some patients do fine and some don’t. So the question is, is there a magic number? How about 30,000? Does a physician give patients a margin in case their count goes down during a viral illness or if by accident they take a cold medication with aspirin? With a count between 30,000 and 50,000, most physicians would probably prefer not to treat. Other physicians would tell you they treat for bleeding only. Unfortunately, we don’t have the data that says unequivocally when treatment is and is not appropriate, in a way that can be generalized to the entire population. Garrett: Doug, if you had a patient
