Blood too thin. What does this mean?

[Gdansk]

I am due to have an operation later in the week and have been told I have to have my blood taken again tomorrow as the last test showed that my blood is 'too thin for surgery. I am going out of my mind with worry and have convinced myself I have leukaemia. Any idea what this might mean?

Leukaemia (as far as I'm aware, not my speciality) would give different abnormal results, not aware of it affecting clotting. Are you on any medication? Did they tell you which test was abnormal or give you any advice to help correct the problem?

I think it means it is not clotting well enough ( for surgery). Ask them tomorrow?

Yes, thats what they said@magso.

Besnom,not sure exactly what it was in technical terms. Nurse said my platelets were Ok but the clotting agent was very very low.

Yes the problem is that if they operate, they need you to be clotting enough to not run in to major trouble. It's a bit Goldilocks like really - need your blood to not be too thick or too thin but just right.
Don't worry about it. See what tomorrow's tests shows and listen to what's suggested. If your bloods showed anything scary they would have admitted you straight to hospital.

I just wonder what the reasons would be for blood being too thin?

Anything nasty or potentially nasty and they'd have asked you to come straight in for more tests. I know nothing about low clotting agents but a quick Google suggests loads of benign causes - mainly dietary or medication related (are you on the pill or any other hormonal therapy?). Some anomalous blood findings can just be one of those things. I have a low platelet count all the time. It doesn't cause me any problems, I just have to remember to warn people if I have blood tests done for other reasons that the results will look odd.

Well if your platelets are Ok that's a good sign. Normal pre-op blood tests include measuring all the different cells (red, white and platelets) and measuring clotting time. If your platelets are OK I'm guessing it's your clotting time that has come back abnormal. This could be due to something as simple as the tube not being filled correctly. Other causes can be side effects of medication (including things like antihistamines which may not be prescribed), inherited clotting factor deficiencies and too much vitamin K. Many foods are rich sources of vitamin K, including leafy green veg, red meat and green tea. As others have said if there was anything very worrying in your results they would have called you straight back so try not to worry too much (easier said than done I know!).

As Benson says, a problem with the test processing (blood tube not filled properly or contaminated with chemicals) is the odds-on favourite. The chances are that they will re-do the test and it will come back as normal.