In our previous
study, we had pointed out that prolonged survival
in atelectasis might be related to decreased intratumoral
blood flow and nutrition due to shunts in the
neighboring atelectatic area (2). Actually, lower levels
of platelet counts in patients with atelectasis might
support this hypothesis. The relation between survival
and platelets was studied in several studies, and
thrombocytosis was reported to be related to poor
prognosis (13–17).