Diagnosis,treatment and medical evaluation of the flying personnel with thrombocytopenia

LIU Jing; XUE Mei; HAN Dong-mei; DING Li; ZHENG Xiao-li; YAN Hong-min; WANG Zhi-dong; ZHU Ling; DONG Lei; WANG Yong-qi; WANG Heng-xiang

Abstract：ObjectiveWe tried to summarize the clinical diagnosis , treatment and medical evaluation principles for thrombocytopenia in flying personnel.Methods14 cases of flying personnel with thrombocytopenia,who were hospitalized in Air Force General Hospital from January 1993 to January 2013,were retrospectively analyzed in respect of illness history, clinical diagnosis, therapy, disease outcome and medical evaluation.Results9 of 14 cases were diagnosed as primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), other 5 cases acquired low megakaryocytic thrombocytopenic purpura (AATP), secondary thrombocytopenia, hypersplenism, unexplained transient thrombocytopenia and EDTA-dependent pseudothrombocytopenia(EDTA-PTCP)respectively. In 9 cases with ITP, 7 cases were cured, 2 cases improved. 8 cases were finally qualified for flying, only 1 case was temporarily grounded.1 case with AATP was improved and qualified for flying. 1 case with unexplained transient thrombocytopenia and 1 case with EDTA-PTCP were also qualified for flying. 1 case with secondary thrombocytopenia was cured but was permanently grounded due to other diseases. 1 case with hypersplenism was also permanently grounded.ConclusionsThrombocytopenia in flying personnel can be caused by a variety of reasons, in which ITP is the most frequent reason. Most of the patients were cured and qualified for flying. The minority of thrombocytopenia can be caused by poor platelet production, secondary factors and pseudothrombocytopenia. Medical evaluation for thrombocytopenia caused by secondary factors is determined according to the outcome of the primary disease.