What do high MPV and giant platelet in CBC mean?

Question

Hello doctor,

My father is 65 years old. Recently, we went for his routine cardio checkup. His doctor suggested a thallium stress test, which was normal. He has been hypertensive for 15 years and is on the antihypertensives Ramipril 5 mg, Amlodipine 2.5 mg, and one diuretic. His BP was high, so the doctor increased his dose this time.

The doctor also asked for a CBC. His CBC showed high MPV and giant platelets. What does that mean?

I am attaching the report here. It would be really helpful if you went through the whole report and cleared my doubt.

Kindly help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I had gone through all the reports posted (attachment removed to protect patient identity).

Mean platelet volume suggests the mean volume of a single platelet, which is high and is mostly an incidental finding. Some bleeding disorders, like functional defects of platelets, are associated with giant platelets. Also, in case of increased production of platelets, they are released into circulation before they mature, and so, immature platelets will be giant.

As there is no history of any bleeding disorder, like bleeding from gums and spontaneous petechiae, it does not need further workup. We can do a peripheral smear to look at platelets. But in the present scenario, it does not seem clinically significant.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.