Bleeding disorders are a group of conditions involving the body's blood clotting process. Such disorders can lead to heavy and prolonged bleeding after an injury.

Normal blood clotting involves as many as 20 different plasma proteins, which are known as blood clotting or coagulation factors. These factors act together with other chemicals to form a substance called fibrin that stops bleeding.

• Abnormal menstrual bleeding
• Bleeding into joints
• Excess bruising
• Heavy bleeding
• Nose bleeds

See also:

• Congenital antithrombin III deficiency
• Congenital protein C or S deficiency
• DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation)
• Drug-induced immune thrombocytopenia
• Factor II deficiency
• Factor V deficiency
• Factor VII deficiency
• Factor X deficiency
• Factor XII deficiency
• Hemophilia A
• Hemophilia B
• Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)
• Von Willebrand's disease (type I and type II)

• Complete blood count may show low platelets or anemia
• Prothrombin time (PT) may be longer
• Partial thromboplastin (PTT) time may be longer
• Bleeding time may be longer
• Platelet aggregation test may be abnormal

Which abnormalities occur depends on the bleeding disorder.