Glanzmann's thrombasthenia is an abnormality of the

platelets Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby i ...

. It is an extremely rare

coagulopathy Coagulopathy (also called a bleeding disorder) is a condition in which the blood's ability to coagulate (form clots) is impaired. This condition can cause a tendency toward prolonged or excessive bleeding (bleeding diathesis), which may occur sp ...

(bleeding disorder due to a

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in th ...

abnormality), in which the platelets contain defective or low levels of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GpIIb/IIIa), which is a receptor for

fibrinogen Fibrinogen (factor I) is a glycoprotein complex, produced in the liver, that circulates in the blood of all vertebrates. During tissue and vascular injury, it is converted enzymatically by thrombin to fibrin and then to a fibrin-based blood ...

. As a result, no

bridging of platelets to other platelets can occur, and the

bleeding time Bleeding time is a medical test done on someone to assess their platelets function. It involves making a patient bleed, then timing how long it takes for them to stop bleeding using a stopwatch or other suitable devices. The term template bleed ...

is significantly prolonged.

Signs and symptoms

Characteristically, there is increased

mucosal A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It is ...

bleeding Bleeding, hemorrhage, hae