Laboratory tests play a very important role in the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of coagulation disorders. When used in the appropriate manner, they can yield a great deal of information and can often localize a disease process to a certain part of the cascade. Furthermore, these tests are extremely helpful in the monitoring of anticoagulant therapy. However, in order to realize their true utility and limitations, one must first understand exactly how they are performed. With this knowledge, a clinician can then form an adequate interpretation. Indeed, the tests by far reachtheir highest specificity and senstivity only when the clinical picture is known. The most common laboratory evaluations used are the activated prothrombin time (aPT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). Other tests such as thrombin time and bleeding time are also extremely valuable, but often underused.
|
|
