Platelet deposition at angioplasty sites and platelet survival time after PTA in iliac and femoral arteries: investigations with indium-111-oxine labelled platelets in patients with ASA (1.0 g/day)-therapy.

In this study we have assessed the deposition of 111-In-oxine-labelled platelets--using a dual radiotracer method--at angioplasty sites of the lower extremities in 20 patients (14 male, 6 female; median age: 60 years) with ASA (1.0 g/day)-therapy. The platelet survival time (PST)--using the multiple hit model--was evaluated before and after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, and we also measured the plasma levels of beta-thromboglobulin (beta-TG) and platelet factor 4 (PF 4) before and after PTA. Before PTA, scintigraphy was positive in only one patient, while 24 hours after PTA a positive scintigraphic result was observed in 16/20 patients. The median target/non target-ratio was 1.0 (0.66-1.3) before PTA, and this ratio increased significantly (p less than 0.0005) to 1.53 (1.0-3.3) after PTA. The median PST decreased significantly (185.0 hours before PTA----145.2 hours after PTA; p less than 0.001), while the median platelet turnover increased from 34,000/microliter/day to 47,900/microliter/day (p less than 0.01). The median plasma levels of the platelet specific proteins increased significantly immediately after PTA (p less than 0.001), but one day later they were not significantly different from the pretreatment values. The quantitative methods used in this study seem a valuable tool to evaluate the effects of different therapeutical--especially antiplatelet--interventions after PTA in humans, thus helping to find the best antithrombotic regimen for this widely used therapeutical procedure.