Influence of systemic inflammation on the interpretation of response to antiplatelet therapy, monitored by PFA-100

Recently it was shown that inflammation adversely influences results obtained with the Platelet Function Analyzer System PFA-100, hypothesizing that inflammation could confound interpretation of platelet function results. We investigated the clinical relevance of these results in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD), with and without signs of systemic inflammation. In 98 PAOD patients, all treated with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), we measured PFA-100 closure times with the collagen-epinephrine test cartridges. C-reactive protein (CRP) values were measured as an indicator for systemic inflammation. Mean CRP levels were elevated in 23 patients (23%). There was no difference in mean PFA-100 results between patients with elevated CRP-levels and those without. During clinical use of the PFA system, systemic inflammation had no major influence on the performance of the collagen-epinephrine cartridge. With respect to the response to antiplatelet therapy with ASA, the results suggest that the platelet inhibitory effect of ASA is not reduced under inflammatory conditions.