Petechia

Petechia
Other namesPetechiae
Petechiae on the tongue in a person with platelets (platelet count) of 3 G/L (normal: 150–450 G/L) due to ITP
Pronunciation
  • pɪˈtiːkɪə
SpecialtyRheumatology Edit this on Wikidata

A petechia (/pɪˈtiːkiə/;[1] pl.: petechiae) is a small red or purple spot (≤4 mm in diameter) that can appear on the skin, conjunctiva, retina, and mucous membranes which is caused by haemorrhage of capillaries.[2][3] The word is derived from Italian petecchia 'freckle', of obscure origin.[1] It refers to one of the three descriptive types of hematoma differentiated by size, the other two being ecchymosis (>1cm in diameter) and purpura (4-10mm in diameter). The term is typically used in the plural (petechiae), since a single petechia is seldom noticed or significant.

  1. ^ a b "Petechia definition and meaning".
  2. ^ Reyes, Melissa A.; Eichenfield, Lawrence F. (2012-01-01), Long, Sarah S. (ed.), "73 - Purpura", Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (Fourth Edition), London: Elsevier, pp. 441–444.e1, ISBN 978-1-4377-2702-9, retrieved 2022-08-02
  3. ^ Gooch, Jan W. (2011), Gooch, Jan W. (ed.), "Petechia", Encyclopedic Dictionary of Polymers, New York, NY: Springer, p. 914, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-6247-8_14466, ISBN 978-1-4419-6247-8, retrieved 2022-08-02