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Weekly Survey Question

A new Fritsma Factor survey feature appears in the right margin in the form of a multiple-choice question. Please select and click on your answer. We’ll compile your answers and publish the composite on the following Monday, the same day a new question is posted. If you would like to make an additional comment clarifying […]

Nurse Anesthesia Question: Thrombin Clotting Time

On Monday, June 2, I provided two 90-minute lectures for Dr. Ingrid Oakley’s graduate Nurse Anesthesia Program students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The first lecture was “Hemostasis Overview and Managing the Bleeding Patient,” and the second was “Thrombophilia and Managing Antithrombotic Therapy.” It is tough on students to attempt to cover […]

New Comment on “Checking for Clots”

I want to draw your attention to a useful new comment posted Friday, June 6 by “Stacy” on the “Checking for Clots” topic in “Specimen Collection.”

Randolph World Ministries

On Saturday evening, Margaret Fritsma, Katherine Giddens and I had the pleasure of hosting our friend and colleague, Prof. Tim Randolph of St. Louis University. You know Tim as a scientific presenter, a regular contributor to the Clinical Laboratory Science journal and as the author of chapters in the Rodak and the McKenzie hematology textbooks. […]

Fibrinogen Assays

Here is a fibrinogen assay question from Cara Calvo: Hi George, I was the program director of the CLS program at Ohio Northern University in Ada, OH until this past November when I accepted a faculty position here at University of Washington. Anyway, as I was reviewing some documents used in the UW coagulation course […]

Alcohol, Cranberries, and Coumadin

My friend and colleague Bernadette (Bunny) Rodak of Indiana University, and chief editor of the Rodak hematology text, sent this question. Do alcohol or cranberry products tend to increase or decrease your protime? If either raises the INR, why can’t alcohol or cranberries be used to control protimes instead of taking warfarin? Hi, Bunny. Thanks […]

Acquired Von Willebrand Syndrome: Follow-up

More from Kim Kinney on her patient with acquired von Willebrand syndrome: I have some follow-up to the case I sent your way today. This patient was diagnosed with GI angiodysplasia, which has been listed in some references as a disorder associated with acquired von Willebrand disease. Our pathologist has a reference that quotes an […]

Acquired Von Willebrand Syndrome

Here is a new message from Kim Kinney at Clarian in Indianapolis. I think you’ll agree, she always has interesting cases. Hi George, We have a very interesting von Willebrand disease case. An 83 yo gentleman was admitted to our local VA for repair of a stomach lesion and had bleeding complications post-surgury. He also […]

Heparin Formulations

I received this question from Vicki Cardone, hematology supervisor at our own Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Birmingham, AL. “Is the anti-Xa used to monitor both unfractionated heparin (UFH) and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH)? Are they the same thing?” Hi, Vicki; good to hear from you. You can use the chromogenic anti-Xa heparin assay to […]

Prevalence of Thrombotic Risk Factors

I provide two lectures for UAB’s Masters in Nurse Anesthesia (MNA) program. The first is “Managing the Bleeding Patient” in which I give an overview of the coagulation system followed by a rundown of the acquired and congenital bleeding disorders and how the lab may contribute to their diagnosis and treatment. The second lecture is […]

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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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