OBJECTIVES To assess neonatal platelet counts by comparing alloimmunised pregnancies from a Norwegian screening and intervention study with subsequent pregnancies from the same women. DESIGN Prospective observational follow-up study. SETTING A university hospital. POPULATION HPA-1a immunised women from a large Norwegian screening study that gave birth to one or more children after the scr...

We read the article by Garjani et al. (1) with great interest. In this study, they demonstrated that patients with moderate or severe fatty liver disease on ultrasonography had higher platelet counts than those with mild fatty liver and concluded that platelet counts could be used as a clue to steatosis grade of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Low platelet counts are frequently observ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the clinical utilities of the platelet count and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) for predicting survival in patients with cervical cancer. RESULTS Multivariate analyses demonstrated that thrombocytosis and elevated PLR were found to be independent prognostic factors for progression-free survival (PFS, P = 0.0077, P = 0.044) and overall survival (OS, P = 0.025, P = 0.019) ...

BACKGROUND Freedom Solo (FS) stentless bioprostheses have superior haemodynamic performance compared to stented valves; however, the data of thrombocytopenia after FS implantations is disturbing. AIM To compare platelet count and perioperative complications between stentless and stented biological valves in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement. METHODS In 29 patients, FS bovine valv...

The fetal/neonatal hematopoietic system must generate enough blood cells to meet the demands of rapid growth. This unique challenge might underlie the high incidence of thrombocytopenia among preterm neonates. In this study, neonatal platelet production and turnover were investigated in newborn mice. Based on a combination of blood volume expansion and increasing platelet counts, the platelet m...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke is strikingly time sensitive. Current guidelines require confirmation of a platelet count > or =100,000 before thrombolysis; however, obtaining this laboratory test may delay treatment. METHODS We queried our hospital database to identify patients with ICD-9 codes consistent with acute ischemic stroke from 2000 to 2005 and to deter...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patients with high-risk essential thrombocythemia require cytoreductive therapy in order to normalize the elevated platelet counts. We evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of pegylated interferon in high-risk essential thrombocythemia in a phase II trial. DESIGN AND METHODS Thirty-six patients with high-risk essential thrombocythemia (median age 54 years; range, 24-72...

BACKGROUND Treatment of chronic severe pediatric ITP is not well studied. In a phase 1/2 12-16-week study, 15/17 romiplostim-treated patients achieved platelet counts ≥50 × 109 /L, and romiplostim treatment was well tolerated. In a subsequent open-label extension (≤109 weeks), 20/22 patients received romiplostim; all achieved platelet counts >50 × 109 /L. Twelve patients continued in a second e...

Human T-lymphotropic viruses types I and II (HTLV-I and HTLV-II) cause chronic infections of T lymphocytes that may lead to leukemia and myelopathy. However, their long-term effects on blood counts and hematopoiesis are poorly understood. We followed 151 HTLV-I-seropositive, 387 HTLV-II-seropositive, and 799 HTLV-seronegative former blood donors from 5 U.S. blood centers for a median of 14.0 ye...