Evaluation of mean platelet volume as an inflammatory marker in patients with acute cholecystitis

INTRODUCTION: Acute cholecystitis (AC) is an acute inflammatory condition that involves the gallbladder wall with various degrees of severity. Studies investigating mean platelet volume (MPV) in AC are limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic role of MPV in patients with AC.
METHODS: AC patients who had abdominal ultrasonography and laboratory findings were included in the study. A control group was created with age- and gender-matched healthy individuals who had laboratory findings in the medical records. All participants’ demographic data such as age, gender, height, weight and body mass index, smoking, and alcohol consumption status, AST, ALT, hemoglobin, platelet distribution width, MCV, MPV, RDW, white blood cell (WBC), and PLT values were obtained from the medical records and compared between the patient and control groups.
RESULTS: The mean age was found as 44.34±13.11 years in the patient and 40.04±9.56 years in the control group. WBC count was significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group (p=0.001). The mean MPV value was statistically significantly lower in the patient group compared to the controls (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between the patient and control groups in terms of the mean platelet counts (p<0.05). In the correlation analysis, MPV was negatively correlated with platelet count and plateletcrit (PCT).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Early diagnosis reduces the rates of morbidity and mortality in patients with AC. MPV that can be easily obtained through complete blood count can be used to support the diagnosis.