Do Elevated Hematocrits Prolong the PT/aPTT?

• Published in: Clinical laboratory science Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 89 - 94
• Main Authors: Austin, Melissa, Ferrell, Chris, Reyes, Morayma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science 01.04.2013
• Subjects: Adult; Blood tests; Citrates; Diagnostic Tests, Routine - standards; Hematocrit - standards; Hematology - standards; Human subjects; Humans; Partial Thromboplastin Time - standards; Phlebotomy; Plasma; Polycythemia - blood; Practolol; Prothrombin Time - standards; Sodium; Statistical significance; France

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines require special processing of whole blood specimens with hematocrits greater than 55% due to the possibility of spurious prolongation of routine coagulation studies (PT, aPTT). As samples with hematocrits above 60% are rare at our institutio...