Platelets in Spanish

What do platelets do?

Platelets are essential for blood clotting. MedlinePlus describes a blood clot as a mass of blood that forms when platelets, proteins, and cells in the blood stick together; when you get hurt, the body forms a blood clot to stop the bleeding. A separate group of tests, called platelet function tests, checks the platelets' ability to form clots.

Low and high platelet counts

MedlinePlus lists symptoms of lower-than-normal platelets that include bleeding for a long time after a minor cut or injury, nosebleeds, unexplained bruising, and pinpoint sized red spots on the skin, known as petechiae. If the blood has too many platelets, there may be a higher risk of blood clots; MedlinePlus calls this thrombocythemia when the cause is unknown and thrombocytosis when another disease or condition is causing the high count. A language reference cannot interpret a count for a particular person.

What it means

Platelets, also known as thrombocytes, are small blood cells that form in the bone marrow, the sponge-like tissue in the bones. They play a major role in blood clotting: normally, when a blood vessel is injured and starts to bleed, platelets clot (clump together) to plug the hole in the vessel and stop the bleeding. A platelet count test measures the number of platelets in the blood. A lower-than-normal platelet count is called thrombocytopenia, and it can cause too much bleeding after a cut or other injury; a higher-than-normal count is called thrombocytosis, and it can make the blood clot more than it needs to. A platelet count may be included in a complete blood count. In Spanish platelets are called plaquetas.

Platelets in Spanish

Spanish term: Plaquetas
Gender and article: feminine plural: las plaquetas (singular: la plaqueta)
Pronunciation: plah-KEH-tahs

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
trombocitos	General	Technical synonym; MedlinePlus en español says platelets are also known as trombocitos, and the RAE dictionary gives trombocito as a synonym of plaqueta.

Plaquetas is the name MedlinePlus en español uses, and the word is feminine: la plaqueta, las plaquetas. The RAE dictionary marks the blood sense of plaqueta as a feminine biology term, defines it as an oval cell of the blood of vertebrates, without a nucleus, that takes part in clotting, and gives trombocito as its synonym. The same dictionary entry has an unrelated first sense: a small rectangular ceramic piece used to cover walls and floors.

For the test, MedlinePlus en español writes both conteo de plaquetas and recuento de plaquetas, and lists recuento de trombocitos among the alternative names. A low count is trombocitopenia and a high count is trombocitosis. Related words on the same pages are coágulo de sangre (blood clot), coagulación de la sangre (blood clotting), médula ósea (bone marrow) and petequias (petechiae). The adjective is plaquetario, as in trastornos plaquetarios (platelet disorders) and función plaquetaria (platelet function).

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Clinician	Your blood test shows that your platelet count is lower than normal.	Su análisis de sangre muestra que el conteo de plaquetas está más bajo de lo normal.
Patient	What are platelets for?	¿Para qué sirven las plaquetas?
Clinician	They help your blood clot so that bleeding stops.	Ayudan a que la sangre coagule para que el sangrado se detenga.
Clinician	Have you had nosebleeds, or bruises with no clear cause?	¿Ha tenido sangrado por la nariz o moretones sin causa aparente?
Patient	Yes, I get bruises easily, and I have small red spots on my legs.	Sí, me salen moretones con facilidad y tengo manchitas rojas en las piernas.
Patient	When I cut myself, it takes a long time to stop bleeding.	Cuando me corto, tardo mucho en dejar de sangrar.
Clinician	I am going to order another blood test to count your platelets again.	Voy a pedirle otro análisis de sangre para volver a contar las plaquetas.
Patient	Could you show me where it says platelets on the lab report?	¿Me puede mostrar dónde dice plaquetas en el informe de laboratorio?

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Platelets
Spanish (Español)	Plaquetas
Chinese (中文)	血小板
Korean (한국어)	혈소판
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Tiểu cầu
Filipino (Tagalog)	Platelet
Portuguese (Português)	Plaquetas
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	เกล็ดเลือด
Japanese (日本語)	血小板

Where you'll see it

lab reportchartdischarge summarymedical record

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Blood and immune system

All terms in this area: Blood and immune system — Sangre y sistema inmunitario

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.