ABSTRACT

Platelet activation is thought to play a key pathogenetic mechanism in acute coronary syndromes. We investigated the mean platelet volume and platelet count in patients with both ST elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. Fifty two patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and 56 patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction were enrolled in the study. Age- and gender-matched 50 healthy subjects constituted the control group. Venous blood samples for whole blood analysis were drawn on admission and analyzed by an autoanalyser. The difference in mean platelet volume was statistically significant in ST elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction patients, which was 8.7±1 and 7.9±0.7 fl (p<0.01), respectively. However, the difference in mean platelet volume between non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and control group was not significant (7.9±0.7 and 8.1±0.7 fl; p=0.52, respectively). Moreover, platelet counts of both ST elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction groups were significantly lower than the controls. Platelet counts in the ST elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction patients did not show any statistically significant difference. The underlying mechanism should be investigated in further studies, which may shed light on developing new therapeutic strategies for this particular acute coronary syndrome.