Blood tests for the detection of thrombosis. Effects of blood flow and location of the sampling site.
Assays are available that allow the careful and wary investigator to use blood samples to derive useful information about hemostatic system activity. In practice the validity of the data will depend in very large part on the care which is taken in sample collection and processing. The particular system being studied profoundly influences the way in which the study should be performed. The details of the interacting issues are not yet resolved, and can only be dealt with as caveats. Finally and most importantly, these assays can not and should not be used to make the diagnosis of thrombosis. We believe that in general their use should be restricted to studies of pathophysiology. They are tools of exquisite sensitivity and specificity that allow us to probe the thrombotic process, and with care and imagination perhaps thrombogenesis itself.
Owen
J
J
Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York 10032.
Kaplan
K L
KL
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001775:Blood Circulation; D001777:Blood Coagulation; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques; D006801:Humans; D010974:Platelet Aggregation; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials