Effects of neonatal sepsis on thrombocyte tests

Hemostatic disorders are common complications in sepsis, and coagulation abnormalities occur in almost all the septic patients. Thrombocytes have a key role in the pathogenesis of coagulation abnormalities in sepsis. This study aimed to investigate thrombocyte function disorders as a likely cause of hemorrhagic diathesis in patients with neonatal sepsis.

The study included 70 septic newborns (sepsis group) and 59 healthy newborns (control group). Blood samples were collected from the patients within the first 24 h of hospitalization. Thrombocyte aggregation and secretion tests were performed by optical aggregometry and lumi-aggregometry, respectively. Collagen (2 μg/mL), epinephrine (5 μM), standard (5 μM) and high (10 μM) doses of adenosine diphosphate (ADP), standard (1 unit) and high (4 units) doses of thrombin, ristocetin (1.25 mg/mL) and arachidonic acid (0.5 mM) were used as the agonists.

The mean age of the septic newborns was significantly higher than that of the controls (6.78 ± 14.47 days versus 1.25 ± 1.17, p < 0.001). There was no difference between the groups regarding gender- and birth-related characteristics. No difference was observed between the groups regarding platelet count (293.37 ± 144.48 × 10(9)/L in the sepsis group and 254.22 ± 65.26 × 10(9)/L in the control group, p = 0.195). Platelet secretion induced by collagen, epinephrine, standard and high (10 μM) doses of ADP, or arachidonic acid and platelet aggregation induced by collagen, high-dose ADP, arachidonic acid, ristocetin or thrombin (1 unit) were significantly higher in the sepsis group than in the control group.

Based on the results, we concluded that large-scale studies with recurrent tests performed in different periods of sepsis are needed.