Posts

Heparin and Warfarin Allergy

As you’ve read in the news, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Deerfield, IL recalled nine lots of unfractionated heparin January 17 after the US CDC documented 65 probable cases of acute anaphylaxis in hemodialysis patients using the heparin, including one death. It isn’t clear… …exactly what about the heparin-hemodialysis combination caused the allergic response,s but it does […]

Platelets, Atherosclerosis, and Cardiovascular Disease

Last summer I made a presentation relating platelets with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science. The presentation has now been re-formatted and is available as a three-part module entitled Platelets and Cardiovascular Disease. Once you participate, take advantage of the CACMLE quiz for your continuing […]

Chromogenic Factor X Assay

Larry Smith, PhD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering asks if anyone has an adaptation for running the chromogenic factor X assay on the ACL-TOP.

Clot Retraction

I thought the clot retraction test had disappeared when the earth cooled, but I heard from Maggie Schneider MT (ASCP) and Karri Henderson MT (ASCP) at William Beaumont Hospital in Oakland, MI, who occasionally use it. If an institution as “august” as Beaumont is using the clot retraction test, there must be more folks in […]

Screening for Bleeding Risk

Nancy Kovacs posted this message on the Medlab-L list and has given me permission to post it here. Hello! I am a member of the MedLab Listserve and have often seen your postings about coagulation issues. Perhaps you can help us with our PFA-100 questions. We have a pain management clinic and wanted to cease […]

Greiner Tubes

Sue Osier from Northside Hospital in Atlanta asks whether anyone is using Greiner specimen collection tubes and whether they seem to be causing any trouble on Stago equipment, specifically, the STA-R and Sapphire. Good to hear from you, Sue, and I appreciate your contributions to our site. If you are having any trouble with Greiner […]

ACT Validation

Here is a question from Mary Rozmanc in Sunnybrook: Hi, George, I will be evaluating two vendor ACT devices. Is there any information you have or that you can point me to to help me set up a proper evaluation? The reference instrument will be the Medtronic ACT II. I would like to know what […]

Dr. Dot Adcock in January CAP Today

I’m proud to see the January issue of CAP Today features Dr. Dorothy (Dot) Adcock, Director of Esoterix Laboratory Services, Englewood, CO. Beside highlighting Dot’s career, the article contains valuable tips on mixing studies, von Willebrand disease testing profiles, and global clotting assay. Geo.

Hypothermia and Anticoagulant Monitoring

Here is a question sent to Kim Kinney from a Clarian Pharm D: I’ve got a great question and I hope you can help. We are using more and more induced hypothermia for cardiac arrest, and will especially see this increase as our regionalization for MI program gets up to speed. So if someone is […]

Cold Agglutinins

Rita Burns sent me this message on January 8: How do you handle a strong cold agglutinin for coagulation testing? This particular sample generated dye errors on the Biomerieux (Trinity Biotech, Inc) MDA180. After warming the sample on the unit, we were able to retrieive results with no error flags, but we are still concerned […]

Load more

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.

Cheat Sheets from George

Quick Question