All Posts

Factor Substitution Assays

George occasionally receives questions about factor substitution assays. We coagulationists of a “certain age” can recall preparing barium sulfate or aluminum hydroxide “adsorbed” plasma, aged plasma, and serum, then performing mixing studies on prolonged PTT patient plasmas. We mixed the patient plasma 1:1 with pooled normal plasma and the adsorbed and aged plasma and serum, […]

DOAC Review

Click here for an excellent MedScape review on the DOACs.

Anticoagulant Therapy

Case: VWD Type 2?

From Dr. Jasmina in India: Hello George. I need some thoughts on a case with bleeding. An 8 month old female child was referred for workup for a bleeding disorder. The mother noticed ecchymotic patches over the arms, legs and back over the previous two weeks and a single episode of epistaxis. The platelet count […]

Bleeding Disorders

Heparin Response Curve

From Maureen Tacke, Idaho; Hi George, my colleagues and I enjoy the Fratsma Factor postings you send. Thank you for the work that you do instilling best practice across the nation. Each year at the PTT lot change, we redo the heparin response curve. We’ve done this to follow practices from years prior. We’ve noted […]

Anticoagulant Therapy

2017 NASTH Fellowship Winners

The North American Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis has announced the winners of the 2017 Research Fellowship Award. Click or tap here to see the lead banner of the NASTH web site with photos and biosketches of the winners. Congratulations!

Measuring the New Factor Concentrates

George recommends the April CAP Today article, Hemophilia Management, Tips on Monitoring Modified Replacement Therapies. The article, featuring Stefan Tiefenbacher, PhD, of Colorado Coagulation, and Rajiv K. Pruthi, MBBS, of Mayo Labs, describes the newly approved extended half-life coagulation factor VIII and IX concentrates. Hemophilic boys are delighted to reduce the frequency of infusions, however the […]

Bleeding Disorders

Is APS Hereditary?

An intriguing case from Heather DeVries, Indiana University Health. Hi George, I have an interesting (cold) case study for you. We recently tested a 44 yo female for lupus antibodies and she had textbook results–nothing equivocal about them. Her history includes a late-term pregnancy loss 12 years ago, and a recent diagnosis of lupus, so […]

Lupus Anticoagulant

Schistocytes in Urine Sediment?

This question was posed by a participant in the Rutgers University graduate course, CLSC 5123, Advanced Hematology. Rutgers’ Clinical Laboratory Science program, directed by Elaine Keohane, PhD, offers an online masters degree program with advanced coursework that atrracts laboratory supervisors and managers. Here is the question. My laboratory has had some requests recently to “identify […]

Bleeding Disorders

PE in VWD

This is from Demetra “Toula” Castillo, Carolinas HealthCare. Can someone please explain to me how someone with a bleeding disorder can get a PE? She has type 2M VWD and takes Stimate for localized bleeds and gets monthly infusions of Humate-P. She also has endometriosis due to the VWD. Her last infusion was 3 weeks […]

Bleeding Disorders

ACA Pt Specimens Vs. Calibrators

From Wendy Sutula, Hi, George. We are validating a new vendor’s ACA kit. When we perfom patient ACA tests, the serum samples are frozen at –20 for 2–7 days before tesing. When establishing or validating the reference range for the new vendor’s kit, is it acceptable to use serums which have been collected and frozen […]

Lupus Anticoagulant

Load more

George Fritsma is a medical laboratory scientist, educator, and author. George is a member of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis, the International Society for Laboratory Hematology, and the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.

Cheat Sheets from George

Quick Question