Platelet Satellites
Overview
I’ll take it as read that we all know what platelets are and what they
do…
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Look what I saw ten years ago.
Whilst reported enough in the literature, it’s actually rather obscure. And
then I had a worry… Platelet clumping is common, and is
widely recognised as a cause of thrombocytopenia. Could platelet satellitism
be a similar cause of thrombocytopenia, albeit a more obscure one. But then, if the (apparent)
thrombocytopenia is relevant, we would look at a blood film anyway, and if
the satellitism is especially marked, then this would stuff the optical
properties of the neutrophil and again prompt scrutiny of a blood film.
Either way the problem would be spotted. On reflection I don’t think there’s
grounds for concern… |
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Interestingly (and something I didn’t realise) is that
demonstrably the platelets don’t form satellites around every neutrophil. I wonder why not. |
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Some More Expert Opinion…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4115092/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12308-019-00365-9
https://www.labce.com/spg280957_pseudo_thrombocytopenia_platelet_satellitism_and_p.aspx