Increased levels of circulating platelet microparticles as a risk of hypercoagulable state in β-thalassemia intermedia patients

Introduction Thromboembolism is a frequent complication in thalassemia. Platelet microparticles (PMPs) may have a role in the hypercoagulability in thalassemia. Objective To determine the levels of PMPs in β-thalassemia intermedia (β-TI) patients and whether increased levels of PMPs in these patients are correlated with coagulation parameters or not. Patients and methods Sixty-three β-TI patients, classified into 46 nonsplenectomized (NS) patients, 17 splenectomized (S) patients, and 20 age-matched and sex-matched volunteers as controls. For all, full medical history, through clinical examination, and laboratory investigations: complete blood count, prothrombin time, prothrombin concentration, activated partial thromboplastin time, FVIII, FXI, fibrinogen, D-dimer, and PMPs were detected by using flow-cytometry approach. Results PMPs were significantly higher in S and NS β-TI patients than controls (P<0.001, P=0.002), respectively. FVIII and D-dimer were significantly higher in S patients than controls (P=0.004, 0.048), respectively. Fibrinogen level was significantly lower in both NS and S β-TI patients than in controls (P<0.001). A significant positive correlation between PMPs and platelet count in S patients (r=0.549, P=0.023). Conclusion Thrombotic risk in β-TI patients is related to increased circulating PMPs and platelet count. Splenectomy was considered a risk factor of thrombosis in our study.