Objectives:
Thrombus by the activated platelets and reduced blood flow of myocardium as a result of the thrombus lies under the pathophysiology of acute myocardial infarction (MI). Mean platelet volume (MPV) is known to increase by the activation and rapid turnover of the platelets. This parameter has been shown to increase in acute MI and high levels are associated with poor prognosis. Trials comparing the MPV in ST elevated and non-ST elevated myocardial infarction (MI) patients are so rare in the literature. We aimed to search for the difference in MPV in these 2 types of acute MI.
Materials and Methods:
We retrospectively searched for the patients followed up because of acute MI in our coronary intensive care unit. MPV was routinely worked up from the admission complete blood count analysis. Patients were compared in two groups as ST elevation MI and non-ST elevation MI.
Results:
As a result, 356 elligible patients were included in our trial (203 were non-ST elevation patients, 153 were ST elevation patients). Mean patient age was 63 and 29% were female. MPV in non-ST elevation group was significantly higher than ST elevation MI group (10.5±1.2 vs 10.1±1.2, p=0.001).
Conclusion:
We concluded that MPV, a parameter of platelet reactivity, was significantly higher in patients with non-ST elevated MI. Chronic underlying atherosclerosis, comorbidities and activated platelets probably playing more central role in pathophysiology of this acute MI type may explain these results. In non-ST elevation MI, urgent and appropriate antiaggregant therapy, as explained in the guidelines is as important as it is in ST elevated MI, we believe our results may be important for reminding this issue.
Keywords: Mean Platelet Volume, St Elevation Myocardial Infarction, Non-St Elevation Myocardial Infarction
