Mean platelet volume and mean platelet volume/platelet count ratio in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation stroke and large artery atherosclerosis stroke

Objective Ischemic stroke subtypes such as patients with large artery atherosclerosis, cardioembolism and embolic stroke of undetermined source were investigated. This study was performed aimed to determine mean platelet volume (MPV) and mean platelet volume/platelet count (MPV/Plt) Ratio in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) stroke and large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke.Methods We conducted a retrospective study of consecutive patients for treatment of acute ischemic stroke at Ruian People's Hospital from March 2017 to October 2018. The patients with ischemic stroke caused by AF and LAA were recruited to this study. Ischemic stroke was confirmed by MRI and MRA, ischemic lesions on diffusion-weighted imaging were measured in terms of size, composition, and pattern. MPV and platelet count were examined and (MPV/Plt) Ratio was calculated.Results 371 patients were enrolled composing of 177 (47.7%) nonvalvular AF and 194 (52.2%) with LAA. The MPV (11.3 ± 1.3 vs. 10.8 ±1.0, p﹤0.001) and MPV/Plt ratio (0.066±0.025 vs. 0.055±0.20, p﹤0.001) were much higher in AF group than LAA group. ROC analysis showed MPV (AUC: 0.624, confidence interval:0.567-0.68,p﹤0.001) and MPV/Plt (AUC: 0.657, confidence interval:0.601-0.713,p﹤0.001) predicted AF between the two groups. MPV/Plt ratio was negatively associated with lesion volume (r = -0.161, p = 0.033) in AF. The analyses of subtypes of composition of infarcts and infarct pattern showed that MPV/Plt ratio was almost higher in AF than LAA except for subcortical-only pattern. Multivariable regression analyses demonstrated NIHSS score (r = 2.74; p﹤0.001), LAD (r = -1.15; P = 0.025) and MPV/Plt ratio (r = -180.64; P = 0.021) were correlated with lesion volume.Conclusion Our results indicated elevated MPV and MPV/Plt ratio for the identification of difference between AF and LAA in patients with ischemic stroke.