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Specimen Collection: HCT over 55%

From Heidi Hobbs: Adjusting anticoagulant for hematocrits greater than 55% has been a hot topic lately. It is a challenge to ensure this is being done in all cases and we have some great things in the works. While doing some research, I ran across one lab that has a simplified adjustment table, where patients […]

Specimen Management

Scott Syndrome

I [Geo] provide a quarterly series of hemostasis lectures for UAB’s pathology residents and fellows. Last week, our transfusion medicine fellow, Richard Godby, MD, asked if I’d heard of “Scott syndrome.” This was new to me and also to two of my colleagues. Dr. Godby provided me with this Wikipedia link [click] that describes the […]

Platelet Function Testing

Conference Calendar

Remember to visit our Conference Calendar, recently updated. Contact George at [email protected] to place your event in the calendar.

Emicizumab’s Effect on the PTT

Here is an informative December 2020 CAP Today article, “Digging Into Drug’s Effect on aPTT-based Assays” [click] by staff writer Amy Carpenter Aquino. The article documents a CAP20 hemophilia therapy session, “aPTT assays in patients on emicizumab are not going to be accurate. And the effect of the drug on our aPTT-based assays can last […]

Bleeding Disorders

New 2021 VWD Dx and Rx Guides

Today, 1-12-21, the World Federation of Hemophilia elearning service [click] published their an update series of von Willebrand disease diagnosis and management guidelines in Blood Advances 2021; 5; DOI 10.1182/bloodadvances.2020003264. Thanks to Elaine Benoit, Precision BioLogic Inc., for the heads-up. These essential documents are free of charge.

Bleeding Disorders

Cord Blood PTT

From Ann Helen: Can you trust results of PTT and factor VIII in umbilical cord blood? It seems as if it is usual to draw umbilical cord blood from newborns when the mother is a known carrier of Hemophilia A. Can you trust a high APTT and a low factor VIII in such a sample? […]

Bleeding Disorders

New: CRYOcheck Hex LA

Congratulations to Precision BioLogic Inc. who today announce the release of their newly developed CRYOcheck HexLA® [click]. Following several years in development, CRYOcheck HexLA is FDA cleared, CE Marked, Health Canada authorized and ncluded on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). Thanks to PBI’d Elaine Benoit for the heads-up.

Platelet Clumping

Friend and Colleague Dennis Ernst, Center for Phlebotomy Education, shared this January 8, 2021 question with George: Hello Phlebotomy Today, We’ve come across a patient whose platelets clumped in EDTA and citrate tubes. We understand that ammonium oxalate may be used to provide an accurate platelet count. Do you know of a manufacturer of these […]

Specimen Management

Webinar: Von Willebrand Factor: Friend or Foe

Click here to register for our webinar, von Willebrand Factor, Friend or Foe. Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) is crucial to platelet adhesion and proper, effective coagulation. It also appears to be associated with inflammation and sepsis. Join us for a thought-provoking webinar entitled Von Willebrand Factor: Friend or Foe? as we explore the many faces […]

Bleeding Disorders

Jan, 2021 QQ: The Chromogenic Factor X Assay

Before 2010, several articles were published supporting the chromogenic factor X [CFX] assay [not to be confused with the chromogenic anti-factor Xa heparin assay] for monitoring warfarin therapy, especially in patients whose lupus anticoagulant [LAC} could falsely prolong the prothrombin time. Two of these articles are attached below. While the data published made it clear […]

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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