The effect of specimen hemolysis on coagulation test results

Hemolyzed specimens are rejected for coagulation testing based on concerns of artifactual interference. Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and selected factor assay test results for consecutive pairs of hemolyzed and subsequently recollected (mean, 72 minutes later)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican journal of clinical pathology Vol. 126; no. 5; pp. 748 - 755
Main Authors LAGA, Alvaro C, CHEVES, Tracey A, SWEENEY, Joseph D
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago, IL American Society of Clinical Pathologists 01.11.2006
Subjects
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Coagulation Tests - standards
Blood Specimen Collection - methods
Blood Specimen Collection - standards
Hemolysis
Humans
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Medical sciences
Partial Thromboplastin Time
Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques
Prothrombin Time
Reproducibility of Results
Hemolysis
Blood coagulation
Anatomic pathology
aPTT
Activated partial thromboplastin time
Prothrombin time
PT
Coagulation test
Coagulation
Partial thromboplastin time
Hemolysis test
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Summary:Hemolyzed specimens are rejected for coagulation testing based on concerns of artifactual interference. Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and selected factor assay test results for consecutive pairs of hemolyzed and subsequently recollected (mean, 72 minutes later) nonhemolyzed patient specimens were compared. Specimens from healthy human subjects were subjected to mechanically induced hemolysis, and PT and aPTT results compared with concurrently drawn nonhemolyzed control samples. In 50 paired patient specimens, there were statistically significant differences in PT (15.8 +/- 8.4 vs 16.3 +/- 8.7 seconds, P < .01) and aPTT (31.6 +/- 18 vs 32.5 +/- 19 seconds, P < .01) between hemolyzed and nonhemolyzed specimens, respectively. Specimens from healthy subjects showed no difference in PT and a minor difference in aPTT. A policy of rejecting hemolyzed specimens for coagulation tests should be revisited because the observed difference, when present, is unlikely to be considered clinically meaningful.
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ISSN:0002-9173
1943-7722
DOI:10.1309/03FK3378YTRA1FRF