Thrombophilia

Antithrombin Deficiency Affects Heparin Assays

Another important issue addressed by Dr. James Quesenberry, St. Luke’s Laboratory, Sioux City, Iowa. His message: I understood from early on that antithrombin (AT, antithrombin III, ATIII) deficient patients can’t be assayed for unfractionated heparin using the Stago chromogenic anti-Xa heparin assay. I thought this was an all-or-none issue, only a big deal in congenital […]

Anticoagulant Therapy

World Thrombosis Day Today

World Thrombosis Day Today, Friday, October 13: Engage Your Patients, Colleagues or Students WTD 2017 is focused on venous thromboembolism (VTE) and hospitalization as a leading risk factor for VTE. VTE can be prevented, yet patients at high risk for developing the condition often don’t receive life-saving prevention. Engage with your patients, colleagues and/or students […]

C-reactive Protein

From Ali Sadeghi-Khomami, Precision BioLogic: Hi George, First of all congratulations for a decade of your valuable blog. It came certainly a long way and proudly as well. Your blog nowadays is the first site visited by many researchers who are seeking to find a solution for their coag problem. I hope to see its […]

Arterial Thrombosis

Another World Thrombosis Day Invitation

Dear World Thrombosis Day partner, You are invited to attend a free VTE Educational Symposium on Thursday, October 12, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City in recognition of World Thrombosis Day 2017. This event is jointly hosted by the ISTH and Northwell Health and will provide an update on the risk and thrombosis […]

World Thrombosis Day October 13

Dear World Thrombosis Day (WTD) supporter, Thank you for your tremendous support of the WTD campaign. As you are finalizing your plans for WTD, we kindly ask you to consider signing up for the WTD Thunderclap online via this link: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/62063-world-thrombosis-day-2017. By signing up with your corporate (or personal) account, you help magnify the WTD […]

ASH Guidelines for Comment

The American Society for Hematology invites public comment on their Guidelines for VTE in Pediatric Patients and Guidelines for VTE in Non-Surgical Patients. Click or tap here if you would like to review or comment.

Antithrombin Specimens

From Odetta Hanna, Sekisui Diagnostics: Hello, I am looking for information about the percentage of fresh-vs- frozen samples tested for antithrombin in laboratories.

Specimen Management

Who Reports Complex Test Results?

From George: Here is a recent message from a colleague who asks about a common but awkward professional issue related to reporting complex test results: I work at a small anatomic pathology laboratory that provides services almost exclusively to oncologists in a major metropolitan area. Coagulation is the only department in the lab that is […]

Is APS Hereditary?

An intriguing case from Heather DeVries, Indiana University Health. Hi George, I have an interesting (cold) case study for you. We recently tested a 44 yo female for lupus antibodies and she had textbook results–nothing equivocal about them. Her history includes a late-term pregnancy loss 12 years ago, and a recent diagnosis of lupus, so […]

Lupus Anticoagulant

Schistocytes in Urine Sediment?

This question was posed by a participant in the Rutgers University graduate course, CLSC 5123, Advanced Hematology. Rutgers’ Clinical Laboratory Science program, directed by Elaine Keohane, PhD, offers an online masters degree program with advanced coursework that atrracts laboratory supervisors and managers. Here is the question. My laboratory has had some requests recently to “identify […]

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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