High immature platelet fraction with reduced platelet count on hospital admission. Can it be useful for COVID-19 diagnosis?

INTRODUCTION: Health professions are heavily engaged facing the current threat of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Although there are many diagnostic tools, an accurate and rapid laboratory procedure for diagnosing COVID-19 is recommended. We focused on platelet parameters as the additional biomarkers for clinical diagnosis in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five hundred and sixty-one patients from February to April 2020 have been recruited. Patients were divided into three groups: (N = 50) COVID-19 positive and (N = 21) COVID-19 negative with molecular testing, (N = 490) as reference population without molecular testing. A Multiplex rRT-PCR from samples collected by nasopharyngeal swabs was performed and the hematological data collected. RESULTS: We detected a mild anemia in COVID-19 group and lymphopenia against reference population: hemoglobin (g/dL) 13.0 (11.5-14.8) versus 13.9 (12.8-15.0) (P = .0135); lymphocytes (109 /L) 1.24 (0.94-1.73) versus 1.99 (1.49-2.64) (P < .0001). In addition, abnormal platelet parameters as follows (COVID group vs reference population): PLT (×109 /L) 209 (160-258) vs 236 (193-279) (P = .0239). IPF (%) 4.05 (2.5-5.9) versus 3.4 (2.2-4.9) (P = .0576); H-IPF (%) 1.25 (0.8-2.2) versus 0.95 (0.6-1.5) (P = .0171) were identified. In particular, COVID positive group had a high H-IPF/IPF Ratio compared to reference population [0.32 (0.29-0.36) versus 0.29 (0.26-0.32), respectively, (P = .0003)]. Finally, a PLT difference of nearly 50 × 109 /L between pre/postCOVID-19 sampling for each patient was found (N = 42) (P = .0194). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 group results highlighted higher IPF and H-IPF values, with increased H-IPF/IPF Ratio, associated to PLT count reduction. These findings shall be adopted for a timely diagnosis of patients upon hospital admission.

Improvement of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin sensitivity and specificity by two plasma measurements in predicting acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Acute kidney injury (AKI) remains among the most severe complication after cardiac surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) as possible biomarker for the prediction of AKI in an adult cardiac population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-nine consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgeries in our hospital were prospectively evaluated. In the intensive care unit (ICU) NGAL was measured as a new biomarker of AKI besides serum creatinine (sCrea). Patients with at least two factors of AKI risk were selected and samples collected before the intervention and soon after the patient's arrival in ICU. As reference standard, sCrea measurements and urine outputs were evaluated to define the clinical AKI. A Triage Meter for plasma NGAL fluorescence immunoassay was used. RESULTS: Acute kidney injury occurred in 24 of the 69 patients (35%). Analysis of post-operative NGAL values demonstrated an AUC of 0.71, 95% CI (0.60 - 0.82) with a cut-off = 154 ng/mL (sensitivity = 76%, specificity = 59%). Moreover, NGAL after surgery had a good correlation with the AKI stage severity (P ≤ 0.001). Better diagnostic results were obtained with two consecutive tests: sensitivity 86% with a negative predictive value (NPV) of 87%. At 10-18 h after surgery sCrea measurement, as confirmatory test, allowed to reach a more sensitivity and specificity with a NPV of 96%. CONCLUSIONS: The assay results showed an improvement of NGAL diagnostic accuracy evaluating two tests. Consequently, NGAL may be useful for a timely treatment or for the AKI rule out in ICU patients.