Increased mean platelet volume in patients with acute coronary syndromes

Despite remarkable progress, the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is still challenging.

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.

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.

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.

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.