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Do You Use Anti-Xa for Heparin?

I received this question from my good friend and colleague, Marisa B. Marques, MD, who directs the transfusion service and special coagulation laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital: George: Could you find out which medical centers are using anti-Xa instead of PTT to monitor unfractionated heparin? I would like to hear their input and […]

Anticoagulant Therapy

Normalized DRVVT Ratio?

George has had several conversations with frequent contributor and international expertDave McGlasson (Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, San Antonio) about normalizing the DRVVT ratio on the laboratory’s DRVVT mean of the reference interval in accordance withZhang L, et al: A simplified algorithm for the laboratory detection of lupus anticoagulants. Am J Clin Pathol 2005;124:894–901. The author […]

Lupus Anticoagulant

Who Does D-dimer on Destiny Max?

Crystal Azavedo at EMH asks: Hi, George. I am looking for users of the Destiny Maxwho are using the analyzer to run quantitative D-dimer. I’m seriously considering adding the analyzer to our platform, but I haven’t heard from any local (northeast US) users that have put DD onboard. Thanks for all your help! Hi, Crystal, I invite […]

Jane Lenahan

Dr. Larry Brace of Edward Hospital in Naperville sent me a note reporting that Jane Lenahan, one of our long-time hemostasis heroes, has passed away. Most of us who are “of a certain age” grew up on Jane’s book, Hemostasis. Click here to read her obituary, which seems modest for such a giant in our field.

Finally Some Good News About Pradaxa

Dabigatran (Pradaxa) seems to get a lot of negative press in the US; the lawyers are circling! Here is a recent article from the European Medicine Agency reporting that Dabigatran post-market data show less bleeding fatalities than in the clinical trials.

Anticoagulant Therapy

Standard Mixing Study Calculation?

From “axnzak:” Is there a widely used (most current) calculation that is successful at interpreting inhibitor vs factor deficiency. Wanted to see what you would use to determine mixing study results, both prothrombin time (PT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT), when comparing results to patient normal PT and PTT reference ranges. If not can you […]

Correlating ACT from the i-STAT and Hemochron

A message from Sue Allen at Baptist Hospital: George, a while back you posted aquestion to the masses about the correlation between the Abbott i-STAT ACT versus the ITC Hemochron 401 and the Hemochron Jr. and I was wondering if you ever received any responses and have any further information on the subject. We are currently doing the same conversion and […]

Anticoagulant Therapy

How Long Does HIT Ab Remain?

In the comments section of our

Anticoagulant Therapy

PTT Reagent Selection

For those who participated in our summer, 2011 questionnaire (designed by Precision BioLogic’s marketing analyst Mr. Ankush Randhawa) about the choice of PTT reagent relative to its application and sensitivity to lupus anticoagulant, the results now appear in Fritsma GA, Dembitzer FR, Randhawa A, Marques MB, Van Cott EM, Adcock-Funk D, Peerschke EI. Recommendations for appropriate […]

Anticoagulant Therapy

How to Remove IgG

This question was posted on Wednesday, May 23 on Pat Letendre’s Medlab list and is reposted here with Linda Stang’s permission: We have a patient with lymphoma and an IgG peak (we think). The antibodies are interfering (and I mean really interfering) in the coags: INR >5.0 but has had clinical challenges with no bleeding. Is there any way to remove […]

Anticoagulant Therapy

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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.

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