Acute Medicine | Immunology or allergy | Spontaneous bleeding

Spontaneous Bleeding
Session Overview
Description
This session considers the history, examination and laboratory tests involved in the management of a patient with spontaneous bleeding.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Recall the clotting cascade
• Take a focused history from a patient with bleeding diathesis
• State which laboratory investigations to undertake
• Interpret laboratory investigations

Spontaneous bleeding is bleeding that is spontaneous, excessive and prolonged following tissue injury.

It may be due to:

• Primary haemostasis deficiencies caused by platelet or vascular disorders
• Secondary haemostasis deficiencies caused by coagulation disorders

Spontaneous bleeding can be mild or life-threatening.