Bleeding Disorders

Factor IX Gene Transfer

At the World Federation of Hemophilia World Congress, Spark Therapeutics and Pfizer Diagnostics announced factor IX gene transfer vector SPK-9001 success rates in 15 hemophilia B participants. Click or tap here for their press release.

Bleeding Disorders

Modified Nijmegen-Bethesda Assay

Precision BioLogic Inc. presented MNBA data at the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) 2018 World Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, May 20–24. Recognizing the need to improve factor VIII (FVIII) inhibitor testing for people with hemophilia A, the company studied the agreement between a chromogenic modified Nijmegen-Bethesda assay (MNBA) and a qualitative ELISA test in the […]

Bleeding Disorders

Critical Fibrinogen Levels

From Heather DeVries, Indiana University Health: Greetings George! One of the facilities in our system is questioning our critical fibrinogen level. Anything <70 mg/dL is considered critical, and they would like to know why we don’t use a cutoff of 100 mg/dL. Our current level was established before I came to IU Health, and our […]

Bleeding Disorders

Pseudothrombocytopenia

From Dr. Bruce King: I had a question about options for analyzing a patient sample that the platelets clump in all anticoagulants tested. We have a 61 y.o. female who was hospitalized for hypertensive issues and noticed some bruising (abdomen) which the patient said had increased over the last several weeks. During the hospitalization it […]

Bleeding Disorders

VWD Testing

Tiffany Jones at Orlando Health writes: “Hi, George! We are trying to update our VWF disease panel and we use the VWF:RCo plasma testing on our Stagos using Siemens reagent. When researching other algorithms I noticed there was VWF:Ac as well. Can you help clarify to me if both these tests are VWF activity assays? […]

Bleeding Disorders

Hemophilia: Gene Therapy

The February issue of CAP Today published an abstract describing some initial vector-mediated gene transfer therapy success using the vector AAV5-hFVIII-SQ. The work is published in Rangarajan S, Walsh L, Lester W, et al. AAV5–factor VIII gene transfer in severe hemophilia A [published online ahead of print December 9, 2017]. N Engl J Med. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1708483. […]

Bleeding Disorders

Modified Nijmegen Bethesda Assay

On March 13, 2018. Precision BioLogic Inc., Dartmouth, NS, announced their development of a new approach to standardize and improve factor VIII inhibitor testing. Their press release (tap or click) referenced new data presented in a poster at the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Societies of North America, March 8–10, 2018 meeting, in San Diego, CA, USA. […]

Bleeding Disorders

QQ: VWF Activity

Here are the results of our January, 2018 Quick Question. Stem: What method do you use to measure von Willebrand factor activity? a. Ristocetin cofactor (VWF:RCo): 61% (32) b. Collagen binding assay (VWF:CB): 6% (3) c. VWF activity immunoassay (VWF:Act): 23% (12) d. Ristoectin-triggered recombinant GP 1b immunoassay (VWF:GPIbR): 4% (2) e. Non-ristocetin gain of […]

Bleeding Disorders

Factor IX Assay News Release

George has attached a Precision BioLogic Inc. news release describing the outcomes of factor IX assay studies conducted with Sobi. The data were published in poster format at 11th Annual Congress of the European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders (EAHAD). Thanks to Elaine Benoit, Precision BioLogic for the heads-up, and to Ali Sadeghi-Khomami PhD […]

Bleeding Disorders

VWF:RCo Interference

From Jasmina Ahluwalia, MD: Hello George, We use the IL vWF Antigen (VWF:Ag) and vWF Ristocetin Cofactor (VWF:RCo) activity kits on the ACL TOP 500 analyser. Lately, I have noticed that in nearly 5% of the samples tested we have VWF:RCo activity levels that are much higher than the antigen levels. We have repeat tested […]

Bleeding Disorders

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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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