Incidentally Detected Thrombocytopenia in Healthy Mothers and Their Infants

The unexpected discovery of thrombocytopenia in an asymptomatic pregnant woman--often considered to be equivalent to the diagnosis of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura--leads to a variety of interventions, including delivery by cesarean section. However, the actual risk to mothers and their infants posed by incidentally noted thrombocytopenia is not known. To investigate this issue, we performed a prospective study of a group of normal women …