Platelet indices in patients with occlusive carotid artery disease

During the period 1965-1984 a total of 279 patients underwent carotid endarterectomy at the Tampere University Hospital; 160 of them were reexamined twenty-eight to two hundred nine months later to investigate whether there are any long-term differences in platelet properties according to the endpoint that led to operation. Platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), and plateletcrit were estimated and compared with the respective values for controls. Classified according to the indication for operation, patients with stroke had a significantly higher platelet count, 292 x 10(9)/L (SE 11), than patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA), 255 x 10(9)/L (SE 5, p < 0.01), or controls, 267 x 10(9)/L (SE 6, p < 0.05). Patients with stroke or TIA had a higher MPV than the controls. When the patients were grouped according to their physical condition at the time of the control examination, the largest platelets, 10.84 x 10(-15) L (SE 0.40), were found in the group of patients who felt well but who had a symptom or finding assumed to be due to a carotid disease.