BOSTON (Reuters) – Doctors trying to ward off unwanted bleeding in people receiving chemotherapy or bone marrow transplants can do it with half as many platelets as patients usually receive, researchers reported last week.

But the platelets, which control clotting, must be given before bleeding starts, they reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The finding might mean it is possible to stretch the supply of sometimes-scarce platelets.

"It lets us better use the platelets we have," Dr. Victor Aquino of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

He said an analysis is under way to see if the low-dose regimen saves money.