| Summary: | Purpose: Megaloblastic anemia due to vitamin B12 deficiency is common in the population. Vitamin B12 therapy may stimulate all cell types in the bone marrow. We investigated whether young, active and large platelets are released into the peripheral blood during vitamin B12 treatment and measured the level of mean platelet volume (MPV), an indicator of the presence of these platelets.
Materials and Methods: A total of 204 patients (40 males, 160 females) with vitamin B12 deficiency were included in this study. Cobalamin was administered by intramuscular injections. We evaluated the hematologic and biochemical parameters before and after one month of vitamin B12 treatment.
Results: The mean age of patients was 40.1 ± 17.4 years. In the pretreatment group, the mean level of vitamin B12 was 151.2 ± 34.6 pg/mL, the MPV was 7.8 ± 1.4 fL. In the posttreatment group, the mean vitamin B12 level was 638 ± 608 pg/mL, the MPV was 8.3 ± 1.3 fL. The levels of vitamin B12 (P < 0.001) and MPV (P < 0.001) were significantly higher in the posttreatment group than those in the pretreatment group.
Conclusions: After one month of cobalamin treatment in patients with vitamin B12 deficiency, the levels of B12 and MPV were higher than the pretreatment levels. These results showed that vitamin B12 treatment may increases the release of large and active thrombocytes into the peripheral blood; therefore, caution may be needed in patients predisposed to thrombotic diseases. [Cukurova Med J 2014; 39(2.000): 329-335]
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