Attached to the December 28 post, “Platelet Function Testing and the Bleeding Time” with the AC Ivy story was the question, “Is the Accumetrics VerifyNow aggregometer useful for screening patients for inherited platelet function disorders?” Yes, I consider the VerifyNow assay effective in screening for platelet function defects, like storage pool disorder or platelet secretion disorder (aspirin-like syndrome), however I find no reference to this function on the Accumetrics web site, which highlights only their FDA-cleared assays for aspirin, clopidogrel, and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor efficacy. Consequently, I have placed an inquiry with the company’s technical service department and will post their answer when it arrives.
The response arrived within hours of my inquiry, and I was wrong about screening: “Thank you for submitting your question via the Accumetrics website. Patients with inherited platelet disorders such as von Willebrand Factor Deficiency, Glanzmann Thrombasthenia and Bernard-Soulier syndrome have not been studied with the VerifyNow tests. The VerifyNow tests are not intended for use with these types of platelet disorders. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Thank you! Carrie E. Daniels. Accumetrics Technical Support.
Thank you for your prompt reply and accurate information, Carrie.
Like many hospital labs, we have two rapid-assay platelet an
Like many hospital labs, we have two rapid-assay platelet analyzers. The Varify Now is used for various specific assays – such as P2Y12 and aspirin, while it seems as though the Dade PFA-100 is intended to be used as more of a general screen.
If I am not mistaken, the PFA is also quite adequate for screening for an “aspirin-like” effect.
Scott