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Increased leukocyte adhesiveness/aggregation in patients with recurrent TIA
Z Meiner1, N Arber, E Liberman
1Department of Neurology, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
Objective:
White blood cells might have a pathogenetic role in ischemic vascular conditions. Several studies have suggested that increased adhesiveness of these cells could contribute to such a damage. The present study was undertaken in order to examine the adhesive properties of leukocytes in the peripheral blood of patients with various degrees of ischemic neuro-vascular diseases.
Methods:
The percentage of aggregated white blood cells was determined by using a direct slide test.
Results:
The respective values of aggregated cells in 28 patients with major stroke, 11 with minor stroke, 17 with a single TIA, 11 with recurrent TIAs and 18 controls were 15.9 +/- 7.4%, 6.6 +/- 3.3%, 3.0 +/- 2.6%, 10.9 +/- 8.4% and 1.5 +/- 0.4%. The difference between patients with a single TIA and those with recurrent TIAs being significant at P < 0.05.
Conclusion:
Being a sensitive marker of inflammation, our test might reveal the presence of an underlying smoldering inflammation in patients with recurrent TIA. These results are in agreement with modern studies that show that inflammation is an important feature of atherosclerosis.