The routine measurement of platelet size using sodium citrate alone as the anticoagulant

Mean platelet volume (MPV), a measure of platelet size, is becoming recognised as an important marker of platelet function. However, platelets swell in edetic acid (EDTA), the standard haematology anticoagulant, in a time-dependent manner making such measurements potentially unreliable. The effect of incubation time on MPV, and platelet distribution width (PDW), as measured in EDTA, low (1:9 volume/volume with blood) or high (1:4 v/v with blood) concentration sodium citrate was studied. MPV measured in high concentration sodium citrate did not change with time in contrast to MPV measured in either low concentration sodium citrate or EDTA which both increased in an inverse exponential fashion. MPV and PDW, measured in high concentration sodium citrate, had similar within-assay and between-assay coefficients of variation as other platelet, red cell and white cell haematology variables measured in EDTA: MPV 1.4%, 2.1%; PDW 1.4%, 1.5%; MCV 0.4%, 0.7%; PC 3.1%, 6.1%; WCC 1.5%, 7.3%; Hb 2.1%, 2.4% respectively. MPV measured in EDTA and corrected for incubation time approximated to, but was higher than, the MPV measured in high concentration sodium citrate. PDW correlated inversely with platelet count (r = -0.415, 2p < 0.001). MPV may be measured in sodium citrate (at 1:4 v/v with blood) alone with a better accuracy and reproducibility than similar measurements made in EDTA. Furthermore, such measurements are not influenced by incubation time, unlike for EDTA.