Mean platelet volume in patients with coronary artery ectasia.
BACKGROUND
Mean platelet volume (MPV) is an indicator of platelet activation, a central process in the pathophysiology of coronary heart disease. The importance of coronary artery ectasia (CAE) lies in the fact that in 85% of cases it is accompanied by atherosclerotic coronary disease. The present study was designed to investigate MPV values in CAE patients in comparison with individuals with normal coronary angiograms.


METHODS
MPV was measured in 67 consecutive patients (mean age: 55.3+/-9.7 years) with isolated CAE and 55 control subjects (mean age: 53.6+/-10.1 years). Coronary artery ectasia was defined as without any stenotic lesion, on visual assessment, of the coronary arteries with a luminal dilatation 1.5-fold or more of the adjacent normal coronary segments. Four subgroups were composed according to the extension of CAE in coronary arteries.


RESULTS
MPV was significantly higher in patients with CAE than in the control group (9.27+/-1.32 vs. 8.40+/-0.95, p<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in MPV among the subgroups with different CAE severity.


CONCLUSIONS
It was shown for the first time that patients with CAE have higher MPVs than control subjects with normal coronary angiograms. Hence MPV might be used as a follow-up marker in patients with CAE with or without coronary artery disease.
Department of Cardiology, Gazi University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey.
Nihat
N
Sen
Yusuf
Y
Tavil
Hüseyin Ugur
HU
Yazici
Fatma
F
Hizal
Sadik Kadri
SK
Açikgöz
Adnan
A
Abaci
Atiye
A
Cengel
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000150:complications; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism*; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003331:Coronary Vessels; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015539:Platelet Activation