Background: In advanced liver cirrhosis, thrombocytopenia results from 'hypersplenism' due to increased platelet sequestration and platelet 'pooling' in the enlarged spleen and/or from reduced platelet production in the bone marrow. We sought to differentiate between these two mechanisms by studying thrombopoiesis before and after orthotopic liver transplantation by the determination of reticulated platelets, direct indicators for the thrombopoietic activity in the bone marrow.
Methods: Reticulated platelets, peripheral platelet counts, mean platelet volumes and platelet-reactive antibodies were determined in 15 patients suffering from advanced liver cirrhosis before and during an observation period of 14 days after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Thrombopoietin levels of ten patients were determined before transplantation and consecutively for 14 days after surgery.
Results: All patients except one were thrombocytopenic before transplantation (median count 94 x 10(9) L-1, range 69-114 x 10(9) L-1). Although levels of reticulated platelets rose 2 days after surgery from baseline values of 1.0% (range 0.2-1.6%) to peak values of 4.6% (range 1.7-17.9%, P < 0.05) on day 6, platelet counts declined during the first 5 days after transplantation. When peripheral platelet counts increased to the normal range (median day 11, range day 8-33), reticulated platelets were again at pretransplant levels. Thrombopoietin levels before OLT were within the normal range (< 85 pg mL-1). On day 5 post surgery, a maximum increase of 5.8-fold (range 2.2- to 28-fold) over baseline values was observed. Mean platelet volume did not show any significant deviation from the baseline values and platelet antibodies could not be detected during the observation period.
Conclusion: Our findings provide direct evidence for an increase in de novo platelet production after orthotopic liver transplantation. As the elevation of reticulated platelets precedes platelet recovery, it could serve as an early indicator to predict thrombopoiesis as a result of reconstituted liver function.