Blood coagulation & fibrinolysis : an international journal in haemostasis and thrombosis
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Blood Coagul. Fibrinolysis · Mar 2007
Thrombelastographic method to quantify the contribution of factor XIII to coagulation kinetics.
Factor XIII (FXIII) plays a critical role in clot strength, and FXIII deficiency or excess is associated with hemorrhage or thrombosis, respectively. Our goal was to design a thrombelastography-based method to characterize the effects of FXIII on plasma clot strength. Normal human plasma was exposed to 0 or 200 mug/ml anti-FXIII antibodies for 20 min prior to celite activation and calcium addition. ⋯ The FXIII-mediated clot strength varied between 44 and 50% in hypercoagulable and hypocoagulable plasma, respectively. In conclusion, the present investigation successfully demonstrated a novel method to detect the impact of FXIII activity in plasma samples. Further actuarial investigation will be required to determine the utility of this approach in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with either acquired FXIII deficiency or excess and concordant coagulopathy.