ABSTRACT
A study of platelet aggregation in 324 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and 24 patients with microvascular complications of DM (retinopathy) is reported. Platelet aggregation tests showed that DM patients can be divided into two groups: "normal" and "prone." The mean reading and standard deviation (SD) of the normal group was found to be 22.6% (SD 6.99%). The mean reading and standard deviation of the prone group was found to be 60.5% (SD 12.7%) respectively. All patients with microangiopathy had a significant increase, all of them being in the prone range, with a mean of 69.5% (SD 7.2%). Platelet hyperfunction appears to be a high-risk factor for the development of diabetic microangiopathies. A hypothesis postulating platelet hyperfunction as an additional factor along with altered glycoprotein metabolism and explaining the chain of events in the genesis of diabetic microangiopathies is presented.
Subject(s)
Diabetic Angiopathies/blood , Platelet Aggregation , Adult , Aged , Blood Glucose/analysis , Diabetic Angiopathies/etiology , Diabetic Retinopathy/blood , Diabetic Retinopathy/etiology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Hyperlipidaemia and platelet hyperfunction have been considered as high-risk factors for atherogenesis. Simultaneous study of these two parameters was undertaken in 43 patients with atherosclerosis (as evidenced by frank myocardial infarction, MI, in 23 patients and ischemic heart disease, IHD, in 20 patients); and in 36 normal subjects who were matched for age (45 to 60 years). Incidence of either of these parameters being high was 36% in normals, 85% in atherosclerosis. Four subjects with circulating platelet aggregates and hyperlipidaemia showed progression of the lesion by crossing over the category of normal to IHD (two) and from IHD to MI (two). These two risk factors, together or independently, appear to cause and control the progress of atherosclerosis and their simultaneous study can be used for its diagnosis. A concept of subintimal hyperlipidosis is presented since none of the existing theories can explain the existence of atherosclerotic lesions exclusively on the developed vascular musculature.
Subject(s)
Arteriosclerosis/diagnosis , Hyperlipidemias/diagnosis , Platelet Aggregation , Aged , Arteriosclerosis/blood , Arteriosclerosis/etiology , Cholesterol/blood , Coronary Disease/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Hyperlipidemias/blood , Hyperlipidemias/complications , Male , Middle Aged , Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis , Reference Values , Risk , Triglycerides/bloodABSTRACT
Blood platelets which aggregate either in vivo or during collection of samples are not taken into account when aggregation is measured on platelet-rich-plasma (PRP). A new test is presented to measure aggregation in whole blood without ignoring these hyperactive platelets. It is based upon the principles that aggregation is arrested when a smear is prepared and that free and aggregated platelets can be counted differentially on smears. The test was carried out on normal individuals, diabetics, patients of myocardial infarction, women on contraceptives, and also on patients of uremia and Glanzmann's disease. It was compared with the tests of Wu and Hoak, Holdrinet and co-workers, and Born. The reproducibility of the parameters measured by this test is better than those measured by the other tests. The test appears to measure a new dimension of platelet aggregation.
