ACUTE APPENDICITIS

MEAN PLATELET VOLUME

Abstract

Objectives: To study mean platelet volume (MPV) in acute appendicitis and
its correlation with leukocyte count. Study Design: Case control study Place and Duration:
Department of Surgery, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro/Hyderabad
from January 2013 to February 2014. Subjects and Methods: Subjects with clinical suspicion
of acute appendicitis were selected according inclusion and exclusion criteria. A sample of 49
acute appendicitis patients and 37 controls were studied. The Blood samples were collected in
sodium citrate vacutainers and processed on Sysmex KX 21 analyzers. The main analysis was
the comparison of the difference of MPV between acute appendicitis and controls. Data was
analyzed on SPSS version 21.0 by student’s t-test, Chi-square test and Pearson’s correlation (r)
was used to evaluate association of MPV with platelet counts and leukocytes. A p-value of ≤0.05
was taken significant. Results: The mean platelet volume and leukocytes were significantly
elevated in patients with acute appendicitis. MPV and leukocytosis in controls and cases were
noted as 7.93±2.1 vs. 9.10±2.9fl (p=0.0001) and 6980±120 vs. 13980±340 μL-1 respectively.
MPV was positively correlated with leukocytosis (r=0.419) (p=0.0001), while Platelets showed
a negative correlation. Conclusion: Elevated MPV and leukocytosis are observed in acute
appendicitis. MPV may be exploited for clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis but in a proper
clinical context along with leukocytosis.