Mean Platelet Volume as a Potential Predictor of Cholesteatoma in Children.

Objectives: Cholesteatoma is a chronic inflammatory clinical disorder, and it may cause hearing loss and various complications due to its destructive nature. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is a prothrombotic and proinflammatory marker. The aim of this study is to investigate predictive values of MPV, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, erythrocyte distribution width, and platelet lymphocyte ratio in cholesteatomatous or noncholesteatomatous pediatric chronic otitis media.
Methods: In this study, the authors retrospectively analyzed 24 patients with cholesteatomatous chronic otitis media, 9 patients with noncholesteatomatous chronic otitis media, and 36 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Cholesteatomatous and noncholesteatomatous chronic otitis media groups were compared with each other, and with controls for WBC, MPV, erythrocyte distribution width, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet lymphocyte ratio.
Results: Mean platelet volume was significantly lower in patients with cholesteatoma (8.17 ± 1.22 fL) compared with the control group (10.42 ± 0.87 fL) (P <0.001). Region of conversion curve analysis showed that the cutoff level of 9.5 fL for MPV was an independent predictor for cholesteatoma with a high sensitivity (86%) and specificity (84%). Cholesteatomatous and noncholesteatomous chronic otitis media patients were similar for other parameters studied.
Conclusion: Mean platelet volume may be used as a fast-to-obtain, reliable, and inexpensive marker with a high predictive level to indicate cholesteatoma in children.