Introduction
An increased or disturbed activation and aggregation of platelets plays a major role
in the pathophysiology of thrombosis and haemostasis and is related to cardiovascular
disease processes. In addition to qualitative disturbances of platelet function, changes
in thrombopoiesis or an increased elimination of platelets, (e. g., in autoimmune
thrombocytopenia), are also of major clinical relevance. Flow cytometry is increasingly
used for the specific characterisation of phenotypic alterations of platelets which
are related to cellular activation, haemostatic function and to maturation of precursor
cells. These new techniques also allow the study of the in vitro response of platelets
to stimuli and the modification thereof under platelet-targeted therapy as well as
the characterisation of platelet-specific antibodies. In this protocol, specific flow
cytometric techniques for platelet analysis are recommended based on a description
of the current state of flow cytometric methodology. These recommendations are an
attempt to promote the use of these new techniques which are at present broadly evaluated
for diagnostic purposes. Furthermore, the definition of the still open questions primarily
related to the technical details of the method should help to promote the multi-center
evaluation of procedures with the goal to finally develop standardized operation procedures
as the basis of interlaboratory reproducibility when applied to diagnostic testing.
