Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2019; 113(2): 272-273

Does the Mean Platelet Volume Decrease in the Presence of Coronary Artery Fistula?

Henrique Trombini Pinesi , Roberto Rocha C. V. Giraldez

DOI: 10.5935/abc.20190154

This Short Editorial is referred by the Research article "Does Mean Platelet Volume Decrease in the presence of Coronary Artery Fistula?".

It has long been known that platelet activation is involved in the genesis of several cardiovascular diseases, especially acute coronary syndromes and other atherosclerotic diseases. Studies carried out in the 1970s already showed that the endothelial lesion was capable of triggering a cascade of inflammatory events leading to platelet activation and consequent vascular thrombosis.

Activated platelets have a larger size due to their increased enzymatic and metabolic activity. These observations led to a series of studies that evaluated the correlation between mean platelet volume (MVP) and cardiovascular disease. Most of these studies found a positive correlation between these variables, with a higher risk of ischemic events in patients with higher MPV.^, These studies were replicated in several different situations, with similar results. Despite this, they have never been tested in large clinical trials as part of the decision-making. Therefore, there is no robust evidence to use MPV or even more complex platelet activity tests in daily clinical practice as a cardiovascular risk factor up to the present time.^,

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