A STUDY ON PLATELET INDICES AS A PREDICTOR OF SEVERITY OF CAROTID ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN ACUTE ISCHEMIC STROKE AND ITS CORRELATION WITH NIHSS SCORE”- A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY. (NIHSS-NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH STROKE SCALE

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Acute ischemic stroke mainly results in focal neurological deficit. It is main global cause of adult mortality and morbidity. The anatomical and physiological structure of platelets (that can be determined by MPV, PDW, PLATELETCRIT) play an important role in assessing severity of the stroke with a much better efficacy. This study's goal is to evaluate and link different platelet indices and carotid intima media thickness with stroke patients' functional outcome and severity, as determined by NIHSS rating. MATERIAL AND METHOD: An observational study was conducted in order to achieve objectives. A total number of 47 cases constituted the sample size. Along with information regarding risk factors like smoking, diabetes, hypertension, kidney failure, and other relevant medical problems, a history of the stroke's onset, duration, and course was gathered. Basic blood investigations, CT brain / MRI and Carotid Doppler were conducted in order to measure the platelet parameters and Carotid Intima Media Thickness. NIHSS scores were calculated and data was compiled and analyzed. RESULTS: Most of the cases in this study were aged more than 60 years. Males were more in number than females. About 66.7% of the cases had hypertension and 68.4% of the cases had diabetes mellitus. The mean platelet volume in this study was 8.8, platelet distribution width was 12.4, plateletocrit was 2.8 in this study. The mean Carotid intima media thickness was 0.1 and mean NIHSS scores was 10.9 in this study. CIMT had negative but not significant correlation with MPV, PDW and PCT in this study. The pearson correlation coefficient was negative for MPW. The pearson correlation coefficient was positive but not significant for PDW, positive and significant for PCT with NIHSS. CONCLUSION: This study had shown that, PCT had a positive and significant correlation with the NIHSS scores. CIMT had no correlation with any platelet indices.