Mean platelet volume as an effective biomarker for predicting high-risk patients of hereditary thrombophilia: A retrospective study

OBJECTIVE: Literature shows evidence of the use of mean platelet volume (MPV) as a biomarker in thromboembolic conditions. It is recommended that genetic testing be performed selectively for hereditary thrombophilia. It might be useful to determine the priority of patients for genetic testing of hereditary thrombophilia through appropriate methods. We aimed to investigate the predictive value of MPV for high-risk patients of hereditary thrombophilia. METHODS: The hematologic (MPV), biochemical (antithrombin III, protein S, protein C), molecular genetic test results (factor V Leiden [FVL], and prothrombin G20210A [PT]) obtained retrospectively from medical files of 263 patients categorized into high- versus low-risk for thrombophilia were statistically analyzed and the value of MPV in predicting high-risk patients was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. RESULTS: The frequencies of high- versus low-risk patients were 45.2% and 54.8%, respectively. Significantly more high-risk patients (n=81) compared to low-risk patients had FVL (n=66) and PT mutations (n=80 vs. 34) (p<0.001). The MPV values in high-risk patients (mean=11.1 fl, range=7.8-13.6) were significantly higher than those in the low-risk patients (mean=8.6 fl, range=6-10.9) (p<0.001). The ROC curve analysis for MPV revealed a statistically significant area under the curve of 0.961 (95% confidence interval=0.931-0.981) at a cut-off point of 10.1 fl with a sensitivity of 89.1% and a specificity of 91.7% (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: MPV might be used as an effective biomarker to screen and select patients for genetic thrombophilia testing. Large multicenter studies are needed for recommending the inclusion of MPV in future guidelines for hereditary thrombophilia.