Platelet adhesiveness in the assessment of ischaemic heart diseases.

Abstract

Abstract Study of adhesiveness of the platelets in ischaemic heart disease was undertaken. Fasting venous blood samples were collected from four groups of individuals: (1) cases with angina, (2) cases with acute infarction without anticoagulant therapy, (3) post-infarction cases after several months to years after the acute episode, and (4) normal individuals. Preliminary investigation employing arterial and venous blood from the same individual revealed no significant difference in the adhesiveness of platelets at 60 minutes (when rotation was done at the rate of 40 revolutions per minute for arterial blood and 10 revolutions per minute for venous blood). All subsequent determinations were, therefore, done with venous blood. Conclusions from the observations were: (1) Initial platelet counts in ischaemic heart disease group were significantly higher than in the normal group; (2) On rotation, adhesiveness was more marked in ischaemic heart disease group than in the normal group; (3) Adhesiveness in the IHD categories were not significantly different from each other. Higher initial counts and more adhesiveness in the ischaemic heart disease group seemed to point out a basal disturbance in homeostatic balance of qualitatively defective platelets in these potential states of thrombogenesis. If this adhesiveness of platelets had a relationship to the thrombotic episodes, these data suggested that angina cases should be considered as potential cases of acute and subacute myocardial infarction.