A new diagnostic marker for acute pulmonary embolism in emergency department: mean platelet volume

Afr Health Sci. 2014 Mar;14(1):94-9. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v14i1.15.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic importance of mean platelet volume (MPV) on acute pulmonary embolism (APE) in the emergency Department (ED).

Methods: Subjects were selected from patients admitted to ED with clinically suspected APE. Demographic, anthropometric and serologic data were collected for each patient.

Results: A total of 315 consecutive patients were analyzed, including 150 patients (53.44 ± 15.14 y; 92 men/58 women) in APE group and 165 patients (49.80 ±13.76y; 94 men/71 women) in the control group. MPV in the APE group was significantly higher than in the control group (9.42±1.22 fl vs. 8.04±0.89 fl, p<0.0001). The best cut-off values for MPV when predicting APE in patients with clinically suspected APE presenting at the ED were 8.55 fl (sensitivity 82.2%; specificity 52.3%).

Conclusions: MPV is a helpful parameter for the diagnosis of APE in ED, for the first time in the literature.

Keywords: Acute pulmonary embolism; emergency department; mean platelet volume; thrombus.

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Biomarkers / blood*
  • Blood Platelets / pathology*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Emergency Medical Services / methods*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mean Platelet Volume / methods*
  • Mean Platelet Volume / statistics & numerical data*
  • Middle Aged
  • Pulmonary Embolism / blood
  • Pulmonary Embolism / diagnosis*
  • ROC Curve
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Biomarkers