[Laboratory methods of estimating blood platelet activation].
Important discoveries of the last twenty years indicate that blood platelets play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of many serious diseases. These include atherosclerosis with its acute vascular complications like myocardial infarction and many forms of disseminated intravascular coagulation. Their role is not limited here to platelet participation in thrombus formation. This is why we are constantly searching for a method which will allow to detect platelet activation in vivo before any important damage to vital organs and tissues will take place. Despite the implementation of sophisticated modern laboratory techniques reliable assessment of such activation poses still a clinical and laboratory problem.