A patient with a recent diagnosis of ITP has asked the nurse why the care team has not chosen to administer platelets, stating, "I have low platelets, so why not give me a transfusion of exactly what I'm missing?" How should the nurse best respond?

Question

A) "Transfused platelets usually aren't beneficial because they're rapidly destroyed in the body."
B) "A platelet transfusion often blunts your body's own production of platelets even further."
C) "Finding a matching donor for a platelet transfusion is exceedingly difficult."
D) "A very small percentage of the platelets in a transfusion are actually functional."

Answer 1

Ans: A
Feedback:
Despite extremely low platelet counts, platelet transfusions are usually avoided. Transfusions tend to be ineffective not because the platelets are nonfunctional but because the patient's antiplatelet antibodies bind with the transfused platelets, causing them to be destroyed. Matching the patient's blood type is not usually necessary for a platelet transfusion. Platelet transfusions do not exacerbate low platelet production.