The clinical utility of Multiplate analyser measurement in platelet function testing following stroke and transient ischaemic attack.

Background: Platelet responsiveness to aspirin in people with cerebrovascular disease is poorly understood.

Objectives: To determine: (i) normal reference range, imprecision and reproducibility of the Multiplate instrument in healthy volunteers naive to aspirin; (ii) imprecision and reproducibility of the Multiplate instrument in acute stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA); (iii) the relationship between aspirin responsiveness and clinical outcome.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated platelet function response to three agonists [Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP), Arachidonic Acid (AA), Collagen (Col)] using the Mulitplate platelet function analyser in a two-phase pilot study.