RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious disease, which demands a fast accurate diagnosis to begin suitable treatment. It presents a major problem in the emergency department (ED), and its confirmation requires adequate evaluation. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a potential role of mean platelet volume (MPV) in differentiating VTE from other potential diagnosis in patients with suspected VTE. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case-controlled study of 440 consecutive patients who presented to the ED of our hospital with clinical VTE, but only 316 with proven VTE. A control group was composed of patients (124) who presented with clinical VTE but without proven VTE. We checked the MPV value in all 440 patients and the correlation with VTE occurrence in the study group vs. control group. RESULTS: Statistical analysis of the acquired results indicated that MPV value could not aid in determining the difference of real VTE vs. patients with VTE-like clinical picture presenting to the ED. We found an inverse correlation between MPV value and proven VTE, in contrast to most researchers who have studied the same issue. CONCLUSIONS: Although MPV can be a useful diagnostic marker in many diseases, we found no definite association between low MPV and VTE.