January 2024 Quick Question Response: Platelet Function Tests

Fritsma Factor’s January 2024 Quick Question asks, “What platelet function test do you use?” Our 43 participants responded…

1. Light transmittance aggregometry: 15 [35%]
2. Whole blood aggregometry: 7 [16%]
3. Lumiaggregometry: 8 [19%]
4. Bleeding time: 0
5. PFA 100/200: 13 [30%]

Presuming that those who chose the lumiaggregometry entry perform theirs on an impedance-based whole blood aggregometer, we conclude that whole blood aggregometry has drawn even with the time-honored but specimen-manipulative and labor-intensive light transmittance aggregometry. Many aver that light transmittance aggregometry remains the reference method.

Bob Gosselin recently published a retrospective on the PFA-100, here’s the citation: Gosselin RC. From field study to clinical practice, a personal historical experience using the PFA-100 analyzer for platelet function testing. Semin Thromb Hemost. 2023 Dec 20. doi: 10.1055/s-0043-1777795. The PFA 100 is a popular replacement for the now fully discredited bleeding time, and the INNOVANCE PFA 200, available outside the US, screens for efficacy of aspirin and the P2Y12 receptor antagonists.