title: Could platelet indices be new biomarkers for inflammatory bowel diseases?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) are chronic inflammatory diseases. Many serum biomarkers have been studied for diagnosis and monitoring of disease activity in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Platelets play an important role in inflammation. The aim of the present study is to determine whether platelet indices; mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW) and platelet-crit (PCT) would be useful, cheap, non-invasive biomarkers for following up and determining severity of IBD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group consisted of 175 patients with IBD (UC n: 103 and CD n: 72) and the control group included 40 healthy subjects. Disease activity was evaluated both by endoscope and clinically. Platelet indices and inflammatory parameters were measured for all study participants. Patients were checked in both active and remission phase of the diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In patients with active UC and CD, there was a statistically significant decrease in MPV, PDW levels and increase in PCT levels when compared to healthy controls. In remission phase of IBD while MPV levels were lower, PDW and PCT levels were higher than control group. Both PDW (r: -0.271 p: 0.032) and PCT (r: 0.295 p: 0.027) had a significant correlation with UC disease activity. There was statistically significant change in all platelet indices during diseases follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present report revealed that changes of platelet indices in IBD are noteworthy. They can be added to other inflammatory markers especially to monitor disease from active phase to remission phase.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep University, Sahinbey, Gaziantep, Turkey. zaodr79@yahoo.com
authors: Z A
authors: ZA
authors: Öztürk
authors: M S
authors: MS
authors: Dag
authors: M E
authors: ME
authors: Kuyumcu
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Cam
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Yesil
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Yilmaz
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Aydinli
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Kadayifci
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Kepekci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012074:Remission Induction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers