Evaluation of the immature platelet fraction as an indicator of platelet recovery in dengue patients

Summary Introduction Thrombocytopenia is a common complication in many disorders (such as aplastic anemia, ITP , dengue fever,), the etiology being multifactorial. Immature platelet fraction ( IPF ) is a new parameter which is a measure of reticulated platelets that reflects the rate of thrombopoiesis. We tried to evaluate IPF as an indicator to predict the recovery of platelets in patients with dengue. Methods A total of 32 patients suffering from dengue fever (as confirmed by NS 1 antigen or IgM antibody positivity for dengue) were taken for the study. The platelet count and IPF value of all these patients were evaluated on a daily basis. Results It was found out that IPF has a strong correlation with the recovery of platelet counts in patients with dengue. 84.3% patients showed recovery within 24 h after attaining the peak IPF , 93.75% of the patients showed recovery within 24–48 h of the rise of the IPF compared with the previous day's value, and 100% patients showed a recovery within 24 h of the fall of the IPF compared with the previous days. It was also observed that 93.75% of the patients show platelet recovery within 24–48 h if the IPF was more than 10%. Conclusion Based on our study, we concluded that IPF can be used to evaluate the recovery of platelets in patients with dengue. It holds a great promise of becoming a reliable future guide for decisions concerning platelet transfusions.