The calibrated automated thrombogram (CAT): a universal routine test for hyper- and hypocoagulability

• Published in: Pathophysiology of haemostasis and thrombosis Vol. 32; no. 5-6; p. 249
• Main Authors: Hemker, H C, Giesen, P, AlDieri, R, Regnault, V, de Smed, E, Wagenvoord, R, Lecompte, T, Béguin, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 01-09-2002
• Subjects: Blood Coagulation Disorders - diagnosis; Blood Coagulation Tests - methods; Humans; Thrombin - analysis
• ISSN: 1424-8832
• DOI: 10.1159/000073575

By using a "slow" fluorogenic thrombin substrate and continuous comparison to a simultaneously run calibrator, thrombin generation can be monitored automatically, on line, in clotting PPP or PRP at a throughput of up to 100 samples per hour. The resulting "Thrombogram" in PPP measures hypocoagulability (haemophilias, oral anticoagulants, heparins (-likes), direct inhibitors) and hypercoagulabilities (AT deficiency, prothrombin hyperexpression, prot. C and S deficiency, factor V Leiden, oral contraceptives). In PRP it is diminished in thrombopathies, in von Willebrand disease, by antibodies blocking GPIIb-IIIa or GPIb, or by antiplatelet drugs like aspirin and clopidogrel. Lupus anticoagulant both retards and increases thrombin generation. The thrombogram thus appears to be a broad function test of the haemostatic-thrombotic mechanism of the blood.