Platelet Count - To Wait or Not to Wait? That Is the Question

Disclosure Statement Dr. Sethi serves as an Associate Editor of The Eastern Journal of Medicine. Dear Sir, I read with interest the recent study by Breuer et al. [1] .The authors conclude that as baseline thrombocytopenia is very rare in patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke, waiting for the platelet count (PC) causes an unsubstantiated delay of thrombolysis therapy. While this may well be true, the decision to initiate or withhold intravenous thrombolysis while awaiting the PC should ideally be made on a case-tocase basis after consideration of a composite of factors such as the age of the patient, absolute PT and INR values, CT findings, Published online: August 14, 2013