What is it?

Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) is a measure of the average size of your platelet cells. Platelets are small cells, often described as appearing like cell ′fragments′, that are made in the bone marrow and are key for blood clotting. Measuring MPV, alongside the other parameters that are checked in a Full Blood Count, helps to assess for blood disorders.

Interpretation
This represents a very subtle changes in the full blood count. Abnormalities in this biomarker are not unusual and do not normally represent any significant problem when there is no major abnormality of the other biomarkers.

Reference ranges

If your indicative MPV count is lower than the reference range for our laboratory:

Low results mean that your platelets are smaller than the average reference values for the laboratory. Low MPV may also mean your bone marrow is not producing enough new platelets.

General conditions associated with low MPV results may include aplastic anemia, lupus, hypoplasia, thrombocytosis, excessive bruising or bleeding.

A low MPV is also sometimes linked to inflammatory bowel syndrome and other types of anemia.

If your MPV is low, we suggest speaking to your GP about the need for further investigations to find the cause of low MPV.

If your indicative MPV count is higher than the reference range for our laboratory:

This means that your platelets are larger than what is considered a reference range. New platelets are created larger than older platelets, so a high number may mean that your body is creating a lot of new platelets.

This may mean that your platelet production is increased if your older platelets are being destroyed at a faster rate.

Typical conditions include Vitamin B12 deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency, as well as folate deficiency but may indicate other conditions that need investigating.

If your MPV is high, we suggest speaking to your GP about the need for further investigations to find the cause of high MPV.