Inherited disorders of platelets: membrane glycoprotein disorders.

Platelet membrane glycoproteins play a key role in hemostasis and thrombosis. Although disorders of platelet membrane glycoproteins are rare, their effects on the lives of those affected are very important. Severe deficiencies manifest themselves early during childhood with mucocutaneous bleeding. Mild deficiencies may not be diagnosed until adulthood or until the hemostatic system is stressed by surgery or trauma. The diagnosis of these disorders requires detailed laboratory investigation. Management of bleeding in patients with inherited platelet disorders requires both preventive measures and the treatment of individual bleeding episodes according to severity. The study of platelet membrane disorders also has yielded important insights into the functions of affected proteins, information that has produced some of the most successful antithrombotic drugs currently in use.