Background : Thrombopoietin (TPO) is an important regulator of megakaryocyte maturation and plate­let production. The role of TPO (which is mainly produced by the liver) in thrombocytopenic cirrhotic patients is still under investigation. The aim of this study was to measure the serum TPO levels in cirrhotic patients and examine its relationship with circulat­ing platelet count, splenic size and clinical stage of liver cirrhosis.
Study design and methods : This study was conducted on 88 subjects, divided into 2 groups, group I (patient group} included 72 patients with liver cirrhosis (diagnosed by combination of clinical, laboratory, uitrasouna and histopathological data), they were fur-
ther divided into 2 subgroups, group IA: included cirrhotic patients with thrombocytopenia (36 patients, 28 males and 8 females with age 50.3±8.5 years), and group IB: includ­ed cirrhotic patients with normal plate­let count (36 patients, 26 males and 10 females, with age 50.64±6.8 years). Group II comprised 16 healthy persons with matched age and sex, used as a control group. Ail included persons were subjected to: thorough history taking, full clinical examina­tion, beside the following investiga­tions: complete blood picture, kidney and liver function tests, Hepatitis B and C markers, serum TPO level (by sensitive sandwich ELISA) and ab­dominal Doppler ultrasound. The fol­lowing invasive investigations were