June, 2020 QQ: Protein S Deficiency Results

Our June, 2020 Quick Question, “What assay does your lab use as an initial protein S screen?” attracted 37 answers, implying that not many of us are testing routinely for protein S deficiency. Here are the answers: Total protein S antigen 3% [1] Free protein S antigen 43% [16] Clot-based protein S activity: 30% [11] […]

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Quick Question Archive

Jun 29 2020

george

Familial Thrombosis Case

George received this question on June 28, 2020, and has secured permission to post here while withholding the correspondent’s identity. Hello, and thank you for the Fritsma Factor. Our family is of Eastern Europe parentage and we have a genetic clotting family history. Several occurences have shown up at age 28 after a preceeding event. […]

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Anticoagulant Therapy

Jun 9 2020

george

Choosing Wisely: Factor V Leiden Mutation

Tomorrow, June 10, 2020, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation posts the following recommendation on their Choosing Wisely web site. This recommendation was submitted by the Choosing Wisely Committee of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science in collaboration with the American Society for Clinical Pathology. Please provide us with your opinion about this […]

Thrombophilia

June, 2020 QQ: Protein S Deficiency

Our June, 2020 Quick Question asks what assay we use to screen for protein S deficiency. Our purpose is to support the development of a Choosing Wisely recommendation that addresses our use of thrombosis risk factor test profiles, which customarily include a protein S assay. Thanks in advance, and please feel free to comment on […]

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Quick Question Archive

May 31 2020

george

May 2020 Quick Question: D-dimer Results

Our May, 2020 Quick Question, which attracted 70 responses, was, “What assay does your lab use to monitor DIC?” The answers were somewhat predictable, only with a twist. They were: a. FDP: 1% [1] b. D-dimer: 69% [48] c. FDP & D-dimer: 30% [21] d. Other, please comment: 0 These findings are interesting because most […]

Fibrinolysis

More on Covid and LAC

Thanks to Dr. Ali Sadeghi-Khomami, Precision BioLogic Inc., for sending a current editorial in press, Aubignat M, Godefroy O. COVID-19 and ischemic stroke: Should we systematically look for lupus anticoagulant and antiphospholipid antibodies? Revue neurologique 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurol.2020.05.001. Please refer to our May 6 entry on antiphospholipid syndrome and the comment from Dr. Ning Tang. The […]

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Anticoagulant Therapy

May 16 2020

george

Covid and Convalescent Plasma

Margaret and George Fritsma attended the American Society for Clinical Pathology May 11, 2020 Virtual Town Hall presentation, “Covid-19 and the Blood Bank,” now recorded and available to all. The presentation featured panel participants Kimberly W. Sanford, MD, MASCP, Virginia Commonwealth University, ASCP President-Elect; Melody Boudreaus Nelson, MS, MLS [ASCP], Laboratory Operations Manager; Advent Health, […]

Thrombophilia

May 2020 Quick Question: D-dimer

Colleague Dave McGlasson commented that some of the Covid articles from China reported D-dimer and fibrin degradation products (FDPs) on their critically ill patients, prompting our May, 2020 Quick Question, What assay do you use to monitor disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)? If you answer “neither,” please indicate in the comments section if you use one […]

Fibrinolysis

DRVVT Controls

A brief question from friend and colleague Kirk Guyer, BioMedica Diagnostics, Inc: When a coag lab runs controls for DRVVRT, do they analyze the controls only based on clotting time or do they also use the ratio as a pass/fail criteria? We’ve had two answers so far. Frequent contributor Dave McGlasson checks the ratio for […]

Thrombophilia

Covid Specimen Storage

From friend and colleague, Heather DeVries, Indiana University Health: Hi, George. As I am sure you are aware, we are seeing some very high dimers now surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. An email was sent from one of our sites to the entire system that they may want to save those samples for future validation studies […]

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Specimen Management

Thrombophilia

June, 2020 QQ: Protein S Deficiency Results

Familial Thrombosis Case

Choosing Wisely: Factor V Leiden Mutation

June, 2020 QQ: Protein S Deficiency

May 2020 Quick Question: D-dimer Results

More on Covid and LAC

Covid and Convalescent Plasma

May 2020 Quick Question: D-dimer

DRVVT Controls

Covid Specimen Storage

George Fritsma MS MLS

Cheat Sheets from George

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