Increased mean platelet volume in patients with acute coronary syndromes.
BACKGROUND
Despite remarkable progress, the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is still challenging.


OBJECTIVE
The mean platelet volume (MPV), a simple and reliable indicator of platelet size that correlates with platelet activation, might be an emerging cardiovascular risk marker and potentially helpful in stratifying cardiovascular risk.


METHODS
We analyzed MPV values in 2304 adult patients who were consecutively admitted during a 1-year period to the emergency department of the University Hospital of Verona for chest pain suggestive of ACS. In all patients, a baseline blood sample was collected for routine hematologic testing, whereas cardiac troponin T measurements were collected both at baseline and after 4, 6, and 12 hours.


RESULTS
A total of 456 patients (19.8% of total) had ACS. These patients, all having cardiac troponin T levels of 0.03 ng/mL or greater in addition to ischemic electrocardiographic changes, had higher MPV values than non-ACS patients with normal cardiac troponin T levels (median, 8.0 fL [5th to 95th percentiles, 6.7-10.0 fL] versus median, 7.4 fL [5th to 95th percentiles, 6.5-9.5 fL]; P < .001). The diagnostic accuracy of MPV, calculated as the area under the curve by the receiver operating characteristic analysis, was 0.661 (P < .001). At the 9.0-fL cutoff, the negative and positive predictive values of MPV were 83% and 43%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Because MPV is a simple and inexpensive laboratory measurement, it might be considered a useful rule-out test along with other conventional cardiac biomarkers for the risk stratification of ACS patients admitted to the emergency departments.
Lippi
Giuseppe
G
Sezione di Chimica Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Morfologico-Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Verona, Ospedale Policlinico G.B. Rossi, Verona, Italy. ulippi@tin.it
Filippozzi
Luca
L
Salvagno
Gian Luca
GL
Montagnana
Martina
M
Franchini
Massimo
M
Guidi
Gian Cesare
GC
Targher
Giovanni
G
D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000473:pathology*; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010976:Platelet Count; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods; D020107:Troponin T / Q000097:blood
D015415:Biomarkers; D020107:Troponin T