Prevention of Bleeding

Some patients with cancer may experience bleeding while they are being treated. The cause of bleeding can be related to the disease you have, treatment side effects, other drugs being used for symptom control, or a combination of all of these factors.

Bleeding can occur if

• Your platelet count drops too low (below 150,000 mm³).
• Your platelets lose their ability to stick together to form a clot.
• Changes occur in clotting factors (blood-based proteins that ultimately lead to fibrin formation).
• Biologically active products coming from your tumor(s) affect the body's ability to produce clots.

In addition, tumors themselves can bleed.

Hemostasis

Your body has many ways to stop bleeding. These processes collectively are called hemostasis. Briefly, here's how your body maintains hemostasis:

How a clot forms

platelets go to the site of injury → form a plug → coagulation factors in the blood create fibrin → stable clot 

When the area heals

stable clot → healing → fibrin breakdown products in the blood → clot "dissolves" 

Cancer treatments can disrupt this process at any step, which is why a variety of effective treatments are available to arrest or prevent bleeding at various steps of the process. 

Good communication is key

Any form of bleeding is distressing, so tell your healthcare providers right away if you notice anything-even an occasional nosebleed, gums bleeding after you brush your teeth, oozing at a surgery site, etc. Identifying the underlying cause of bleeding is an important first step in managing it. Your oncology nurse and physician have an arsenal of tools to help with this problem. 

Special note

Cancer treatments can deplete any and all types of blood cells. A low red cell count is called anemia. A low white cell count is leukopenia.