Abnormal platelet survival time in men with myocardial infarction and normal coronary arteriogram.

Platelet survival time was measured in eight men who had an acute transmural myocardial infarction and were subsequently found to have a normal coronary arteriogram. Platelet survival (chromium-51 labeling) was shortened in all men (2.4 +/- 0.11 days; average half-time +/- standard error of the mean) and different from that in eight age-matched normal men (3.7 +/- 0.08 days) (P less than 0.001). Three patients had recurrent venous thromboembolism and one had had iliofemoral arterial thromboembolism. Platelet survival was shortened (2.9 +/- 0.12 days) in 11 of 16 age-matched men with transmural infarction who had arteriographic evidence of coronary obstructive disease. These results suggest that platelet survival time is shortened in patients with infarction who subsequently are shown to have a normal coronary arteriogram and that arterial thrombosis may be responsible for the infarction.