Overfilled Tubes

George, I want to hear from you regarding the effects of overfilled coagulation tubes on prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), D-dimer, and fibrinogen. Thank you, Elvin Tiamzon. Hello, Elvin Tiamzon, and thank you for your question. While there are a number of definitive articles on “underfilling” 3.2% sodium citrate whole blood collection tubes, […]

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Mar 21 2011

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More on Freezing Specimens

On March 6 I posted comments from the Precision BioLogic, Inc. technical staff onspecimen freezing. CEO Steve Duff and I both commented on the dearth of data that may support freezing temperature choices. Here is another reference on the subject, McGlasson D. Standardization of temperature in handling and storage of plasma for coagulation testing. Texas J Med Technol 1985; […]

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PT Mixing Studies

From Dr. Manohar Pravin: I have a patient who presented with a history of painless gross hematuria with blood clots since 8 months. He had severe anemia and hepatosplenomegaly. His USG abdomen revealed only hepatosplenomegaly. CT abdomen and pelvis is normal. LFT, KFT, sickling test, CBC is normal. His PT and PTT are prolonged . How […]

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TCoag KC1 Delta Coagulation Instrument

From Rob Lair, MLT Program Instructor, Medvance Institute, Nashville, TN Hello, I was reading a article from Dan Southern about the TCoag (formerly Trinity) KC1, and would very much like to receive a copy of the procedure he created for it. I am an instructor in the medical laboratory technician (MLT) program at Medvance Institutein Nashville, TN. The school has […]

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ACD Tubes for Platelet Satellitosis

Donna Kaiser asks, “Is the use of acid-citrate-dextrose (ACD) tubes acceptable for patients who present with platelet satellitosis? We have several patients that continue to clump in sodium citrate tubes, mostly oncology patients. I have heard of using ACD as the anticoagulant to resolve the issue. If this is true, which ACD tube is acceptable and […]

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More on Venoms

More on venom activity from Vilas Hiremath at United Labs: Dear George, I have spiked afibrinogenemia plasma with Russell viper (RV) and saw-scaled viper (Echis, SSV) crude venom. Prothrombin time (PT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) both failed to correct with RVV. The PT, but not the PTT, corrected to within the normal range with SSV. This […]

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INRs: Report to One Decimal

We have been reporting INRs as only one decimal as 1.2 . We did this from the suggestions from CAP and their surveys. Also we have always rounded PTTs to a whole number. Should we be reporting 2 decimals on the INR and one on the PTTs? Thanks. Diane Thornton Section Supervisor Hematology St. John’s […]

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Does HCT Affect Plavix Monitoring?

This is from Azevlab227: Good afternoon, George. I have a question for you and I’m hoping that other regular contributors to the site will have comments as well. I am currently using the VerifyNow P2Y12 for identifying those patients who are sensitive to the antiplatelet effect of Plavix or Prasugrel. There is a push to […]

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Freezing Specimens

Pat Letendre’s Medlab-L list has had several posts lately about how to freeze serum or plasma specimens for long-term storage. Some have asked for specific guidelines, so I contacted members of the Precision BioLogic technical staff for advice. Precision BioLogic, as many coagulation specialists know, ships frozen pooled normal plasma, reference plasma, and single factor-depleted plasmas […]

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Factor Activity Assays: Concentration or Function?

When performing factor activity assays, are you determining the concentration or the function? There has been some discussion lately on this and while we thought we knew, we’ve become confused. Thanks. Diane Thornton Section Supervisor Hematology St. John’s Regional Medical Center Laboratory Joplin, MO Hello, Diane, and thank you for your question. When you perform […]

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Overfilled Tubes

More on Freezing Specimens

PT Mixing Studies

TCoag KC1 Delta Coagulation Instrument

ACD Tubes for Platelet Satellitosis

More on Venoms

INRs: Report to One Decimal

Does HCT Affect Plavix Monitoring?

Freezing Specimens

Factor Activity Assays: Concentration or Function?

George Fritsma MS MLS

Cheat Sheets from George

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