Authors' comments on: The platelet volume in patients with cardiac syndrome X

Dear Editor,

We would like to thank Varol et al. (1) for their kind interest regarding our article. They indicated that a two-hour delay after blood sampling can cause abnormal mean platelet volume measurement results and that platelets exhibit time-dependent swelling when blood samples are collected in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid We are in agreement on these issues; however, we did not wait two hours before analyzing the MPV measurements.

As mentioned in the Methods section of our study, we gained vascular access via venipuncture prior to coronary angiography. We then waited two hours to allow for the stabilization of platelet shape changes. Finally, the blood was collected in tripotassium EDTA tubes; all of the samples from all of the groups were analyzed immediately using an automatic blood counter.