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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 […]

Von Willebrand Disease Modules

Please check out our two newest modules, von Willebrand disease 1, which describes the physiology and clinical features, and von Willebrand disease 2, laboratory testing and therapy. You can complete the modules in 30 minutes, and earn 0.5 continuing education units for each, accredited through the Colorado Association for Continuing Medical Laboratory Education. Geo

ISTH in Vienna

The interim meeting of the Scientific and Standardization committee of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis is planned for July 2-5 in Vienna, Austria. Details are on the ISTH Web Page.

Silica Clotting Time (SCT) as part of the LA profile

The silica clotting time (SCT) is a PTT-like assay that uses colloidal silica as its negatively charged particulate activator. It was first described in Chantarangkul V, Tripodi A, Arbini A, Mannucci PM. SCT as a screening and confirmatory test for detection of the lupus anticoagulants.Thromb Res 1992;67:355-65. The current version, HemosIL SCT, marketed by Instrumentation […]

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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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