Abstract: Objective To investigate the change and clinical application of the red cell distribution width（RDW） in diagnosis of cerebral infarction. Methods Peripheral blood was collected from 265 patients with cerebral infarction and 160 healthy controls and the level of RDW was detected .The recipients operating characteristic curve （ROC curve） was used to determine the best cutoff point of RDW.The patients were divided into low RDW（RDW<12.65%） and high RDW groups（RDW≥12.65%）according to ROC curve. The variation of age,gender,activated partial thromboplastin time（APTT）,prothrombin time （PT）,and D-dimer （D-D） between the two groups were analyzed. Results The RDW level of the patients with cerebral infarction was obviously higher than that of the healthy control （Z=-6.518,P<0.001）. The value of APTT and PT in high RDW group （RDW≥12.65%） was higher （APTT Z=-2.331,P=0.020）than in low RDW group（RDW<12.65%,PT Z=-2.062,P=0.039）. But no significant difference was noted of D-D level between low and high RDW groups （Z=-1.141,P=0.254）. Conclusion The RDW level were increased in the cerebral infarction patients and APTT and PT were elevated,suggesting the role of RDW in the auxiliary diagnosis of cerebral infarction.

Key words: Cerebral, Infarction RDW, ROC curve