George Fritsma

MS, MLS, Lab Scientist, Educator, Author

George Fritsma is a medical laboratory scientist, educator, and author. George contributed 10 chapters to Keohane EM, Smith LJ, Walenga JM: Rodak’s Hematology; Clinical Principles and Applications, Fifth Edition, 2015, Elsevier; and is the co-author of Bennett A, Fritsma GA, Ernst DJ: Quick Guide to Blood Collection Edition 2, 2016, Marques MB, Fritsma GA: Quick Guide to Coagulation Testing Edition 3, 2015, and Reddy V, Marques MB, Fritsma GA: Quick Guide to Hematology Testing Edition 2, 2013, along with three additional titles, all published by AACC Press. He is a consultant in Laboratory Medicine, Department of Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he developed uabcoag.net. George holds faculty appointments with Rutgers University and Michigan State University, and is a member of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis, American Association of Clinical Chemists, and American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.

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Testing for the Lupus Anticoagulant: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Click here for a “State of the Art Review,” Favaloro EJ, Pasalic L, Selby R. Testing for the lupus anticoagulant: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2024; 8: DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rpth.2024.102385.

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Thrombophilia

VWD Diagnosis and Monitoring Update

Dr. Annette Bowyer posted this open-access publication today, 3-3-24 on LinkedIn: Platton S, Baker P, Bowyer A, et al. Guideline for laboratory diagnosis and monitoring of von Willebrand disease: A joint guideline from the United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Doctors’ Organisation and the British Society for Haematology. Br J Haematol. 2024 Mar 26. doi: 10.1111/bjh.19385. Epub […]

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Bleeding Disorders

April 2024 Cheat Sheet

Click here for your April 2024 Cheat Sheet or watch for your copy by email.

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Cheat Sheets

April 2024 QQ: MYH9 Mutation

Molecular diagnostic methods have defined scores of platelet disorders that by phenotype alone were categorized as production or functional disorders. Our April 2024 Quick Question is a quiz that “scratches the surface” by asking what disorder or syndrome is part of the MYH9 gene mutation family. For a look at molecular diagnostics practical applications, see […]

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Platelet Function Testing

March 2024 Quick Question Summary: Factor Deficiency

Our March 2024 Quick Question was a quiz. The question was, “What factor deficiency causes bleeding but doesn’t prolong the PT or PTT?” Our 75 respondents answered as follows: FVIII: 7 [9%] FIX: 3 [4%] FXI: 3 [4%] FXII: 8 [11%] FXIII: 54 [72%] Factor VIII, IX, XI, and XII deficiencies prolong the PTT but […]

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Bleeding Disorders

Establishing the PTT-based UFH Therapeutic Range

A March 22 entry from Robyn Coleman, Senior Scientist, Coagulation, Haematology, Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Queensland, Australia: Dear George, I am seeking some direction on APTT therapeutic ranges for UFH. We are facing a change to our APTT reagent. The cohort of patients we would have traditionally used to validate UFH therapeutic range (TR) for APTT, […]

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Anticoagulant Therapy

How to Measure Plasma Efanesoctocog Alfa [Altuviiio]

For those like me [Geo] who are just learning of it, efanesoctocog alfa (“EFA,” ALTUVIIIO™), US FDA-approved in February of 2023 is Sanofi/Sodi’s extended half-life synthetic FVIII concentrate whose FVIII molecule is fused to a VWF fragment, thus extending the half-life to ~52 hours, requiring once-a-week infusions. Here is the FDA statement: Efanesoctocog alfa (ALTUVIIIOTM; […]

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Bleeding Disorders

Hemostasis Quality Control Modules

Fritsma Factor is pleased to introduce our most recent audio PowerPoint modules, Hemostasis Quality Control Part 1 and Hemostasis Quality Control Part 2. These modules were produced by friend, colleague, and co-author Mayukh Sarkar, Ph.D MLS [ASCP] for the Rutgers University 2023 graduate course, Advanced Hemostasis CLS5124. Dr. Sarkar has a wealth of QC experience […]

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Validation

Platelet Satellitism

Here’s a March 11, 2024 message from Erika Knuckles, Hematology Supervisor, Phelps Health. “Good Morning George, I was consulting ‘Mr. Google’ to see if I could find any information on what would cause patients to form platelet clumps in both EDTA and sodium citrate. We excluded the collection process. diseases, and medication. I thought you […]

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Specimen Management

Questions or Comments?

Email George