Mean platelet volume levels in the presence of angiographically documented peripheral artery disease.

Aim: Increased mean platelet volume (MPV) have been shown to be associated with peripheral artery disease (PAD). However in these studies, noninvasive methods for the diagnosis of PAD was used. In the literature, there is no studies examining the values of MPV in the angiographically documented PAD. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between angiographically documented PAD and MPV levels in the peripheral blood samples. Methods: In this study, retrospective analysis of 1386 patients was performed who underwent peripheral angiography at the cardiology service of the our hospital, between 2006 and 2012 for a suspected diagnosis of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease. Patients with a stenosis percent of 50% or above in the peripheral angiography were considered as having peripheral arterial disease. MPV values are affected by many factor. Only 84 patients who complied with the inclusion criteria were detected. The study patients were divided into 2 groups according to the results of peripheral angiography. 56 patients diagnosed with PAD based on the specified criteria were grouped into Group I (mean age 59 ± 10 years) while 28 patients without peripheral arterial disease were grouped into Group II (mean age 60 ± 11 years). Blood tests and angiographic images were analyzed from patients’ data. Results: Both groups were similar in terms of basic parameters of anemia including hemoglobin, hematocrit and red cell distribution width levels. There were no significant differences between MPV levels in both groups (8.08 ± 0.91 vs 8.28 ± 1.16, P > 0.05). Mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin levels, on the other hand, were significantly higher in Group I (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In our study, we did not found any significant changes in the MPV levels of angiographically documented PAD diseases. The use of MPV level as a risk factor for peripheral arterial disease is impractical due to the fact that MPV is affected by a lot of factors and there are several technical factors. Because of this, in the real life, we are not recommend to use MPV values as an indicator for peripheral artery disease.