Abstract

Platelet dynamics in chronic liver disease have been studied using 111Indium-8-hydroxyquinolone (111In-oxine) as a platelet label. In 20 patients, mainly with alcoholic cirrhosis, the platelet mean life span was reduced in 12 and the splenic platelet pool increased, often markedly so, in 15. However, the platelet count was not significantly related to mean bile span, the splenic platelet pool, or spleen size. Whereas splenic platelet pool size is related to spleen size in most of the haematological 'big-spleen' syndromes, this did not apply to those patients with chronic liver disease. Technically, 111In-oxine is a more appropriate platelet label than 51Cr in ill and thrombocytopenic patients with liver disease.