Thrombocytosis as a marker for post-operative complications in colorectal surgery

M Mohamud

doi:10.1016/j.ijsu.2018.05.327

Abstract

Thrombocytosis as a marker for post-operative complications in colorectal surgery

Highlights

Platelet count is a routinely performed blood test both before and after major surgery as part of the full blood count
Thrombocytosis is commonly seen in malignancy [5] and its use as a marker for predicting prognosis in rectal cancer [6], gynaecological malignancies [7,8,9,10], renal cell carcinomas [11], breast cancer [12], oesophageal cancer [13], gastric cancer [14], and lung cancer [15] is well documented
Of the 201 patients studied, 75 (37%) had postoperative thrombocytosis, 4 (1.9%) of which had platelet count ≥ 1000 × 109/L, 120 (59%) had postoperative normocytosis, and 6 (2.9%) patients were excluded due to insufficient retrievable data. 191 of the 201 patients studied had normal platelet count preoperatively

Summary

Introduction

Platelet count is a routinely performed blood test both before and after major surgery as part of the full (or complete) blood count. A postoperative rise in the platelet count (thrombocytosis) is often dismissed as an incidental finding, but there is growing evidence to suggest that it may act as an indicator to underlying pathology. It correlates with significant pyogenic infections as well as multiple malignancies. In patients undergoing surgery for gastric cancer, a combination of platelet count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) ratio collected preoperatively was shown to correlate with postoperative survival. In this retrospective study, thrombocytosis was shown to have a positive correlation with postoperative medical and surgical complications. We recommend that further studies with a larger sample size would test the specific associations with individual complications

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Conclusion