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World Thrombosis Day, October 13

Dear George, As World Thrombosis Day (WTD) approaches on October 13, we’re excited to share new resources to help make this year’s campaign more impactful. Your participation is essential to raising awareness about thrombosis, and we are grateful for your continued support. To help you engage your community, we’ve added new tools and materials. New […]

FVIII Level and Inhibitor Studies

From Chad Siniard, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Hospital Laboratory Medicine. George, We have a FVIII activity level that is exactly 30%. We haven’t documented an official level for triggering an inhibitor titer, though our coag lab scientist Laura Taylor customarily runs an inhibitor assay if the result is <30%. We assayed using […]

September 2024 Cheat Sheet

Here’s your September 2024 Cheat Sheet. If you want to receive a copy of your personal cheat sheet, please fill out the Fritsma Factor Post Page form. As always, we welcome your comments.

September 2024 Quick Question: PTT

I (Geo) prefer PTT to APTT or aPTT because the “A” or “a” is superfluous. Laboratory scientists no longer offer an “unactivated” PTT. The “partial thromboplastin” reagent consists of a phospholipid or combination of phospholipids that may include animal, plant, or synthetic sourced phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, sphingomyelin, and/or phosphatidylethanolamine. Accompanying the phospholipid is one of […]

August 2024 Quick Question Summary: Rebalancing Therapy

Our August 2024 Quick Question, which attracted 18 responses, asked, “Which hemophilia ‘rebalancing’ therapy suppresses antithrombin RNA production?” Here are your answers: Efanesoctocog alfa: 0 Concizumab: 3 (17%) Octavian 2 (11%) Hemgenix 3 (17%) Fitusiran 10 (55%) Rebalancing therapy is the name for using RNA inhibitors (RNAi) that suppress mRNA synthesis, subsequently suppressing selected molecules. […]

Bleeding Disorders

Extended Life Cryoprecipitate Fibrinogen

As reported by Amy Carpenter quoting Jay Hudgins, DO, MS, director of hemostasis and thrombosis, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA in the August 2024 edition of CAP Today, extended-life cryoprecipitate has several applications. INTERCEPT®, is the Cerus, Inc. trademark for their materials that crosslink and inactivate bacterial and […]

Bleeding Disorders

A Molecular Approach to Assess Platelet Hyperreactivity

Friend Ed Groenendal forwarded this UPI summary of a molecular approach correlating evidence of hyperresponsive platelets to major adverse cardiac or limb events. The investigators started with aggregometry-defined platelet hyperreactivity to apply a transcriptome-based platelet reactivity expression score (PRESS). Click below to see the detailed open-access article describing the development and application of the PRESS. […]

Antiplatelet Therapy

Measuring Current Hemophilia A and B Therapy

Click here for a comprehensive open-access review of the means for measuring current hemophilia A and B therapy: Bowyer AE, Gosselin RC. Factor VIII and factor IX activity measurements for hemophilia diagnosis and related treatments. Semin Thromb Hemost. 2023;49:609–20. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1758870. PMID: 36473488; PMCID: PMC10421651.

Bleeding Disorders

July 2024 Cheat Sheet

Attached is your July 2024 Cheat Sheet. Watch for your copy in your email next week. Have a good August!

August 2024 Quick Question: Hemophilia Treatment

Several hemophilia A or B treatments are in development or have been approved since 2021. Among these are the “rebalancing” preparations that suppress control proteins such as tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), antithrombin (AT), or activated protein C (APC). Rebalancing preparations are designed to compensate for the bleeding tendencies in FVIII or FIX deficiency without […]

Bleeding Disorders

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George Fritsma is a medical laboratory scientist, educator, and author. George holds faculty appointments with Rutgers University and Michigan State University, and is a member of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis, American Association of Clinical Chemists, and American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.

Cheat Sheets from George

Quick Question