Thrombosis research
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Thrombosis research · Jan 2012
A pilot study utilizing whole body 18 F-FDG-PET/CT as a comprehensive screening strategy for occult malignancy in patients with unprovoked venous thromboembolism.
Approximately 7-10% of patients with unprovoked VTE will be diagnosed with cancer within 12 months. Although cancer screening has been proposed in these patients, the optimal strategy remains unclear. In a pilot study, we prospectively investigated the use of FDG-PET/CT to screen for occult malignancy in 40 patients with unprovoked VTE. ⋯ FDG-PET/CT may have utility for excluding occult malignancy in patients with unprovoked VTE. The costs of this comprehensive screening strategy were comparable to other screening approaches. Larger studies are needed to further evaluate the utility and cost-effectiveness of FDG-PET/CT as a cancer screening strategy in patients with unprovoked VTE.
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Thrombosis research · Jan 2012
Variability of INR and its relationship with mortality, stroke, bleeding and hospitalisations in patients with atrial fibrillation.
BACKGROUND - RATIONALE FOR STUDY: Atrial fibrillation is associated with an increased risk of stroke and mortality which is reduced by treatment with warfarin. The most commonly used tool to assess the effectiveness of warfarin therapy is the time in therapeutic range (TTR) of International Normalised Ratio (INR) 2.0-3.0. Our aim was to study whether INR variability, as assessed by the standard deviation of transformed INR (SDT(INR)) is more prognostically important than the TTR. ⋯ The SDT(INR) is a better predictor of mortality, stroke, bleeding and hospitalisation than the TTR in patients with atrial fibrillation receiving warfarin therapy.
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Thrombosis research · Jan 2012
Platelet aggregation is dependent on platelet count in patients with coronary artery disease.
Platelet function testing in whole blood is widely used to evaluate the effect of antiplatelet agents, but it is not known whether results are affected by whole blood parameters. This study investigated the importance of platelet count, haematocrit, red blood cells (RBC), and white blood cells in whole blood platelet aggregometry. ⋯ Whole blood aggregometry is dependent on all major cell lines in whole blood. Importantly, platelet aggregation is significantly associated with platelet count even within the normal range.