Functional platelet defects and their laboratory evaluation.

Primary diseases of platelet function include Glanzmann's thrombasthenia, hereditary platelet release abnormalities (storage pool disease and release defect), Bernard-Soulier giant platelet syndrome, and platelet factor 3 defects. Qualitative defects of platelets are associated with many diseases, notably of the liver and kidney, and with the use of many drugs, particularly aspirin.