Hi, I’m from Argentina and I work in a hemostasis lab. I have a little question for now: an anticoagulated woman had a prolonged prothrombin time (PT ). The coagulometer read +++, meaning more than 300 seconds and an INR more than 20. However she wasn’t bleeding. What could be the reason?
Hello, and thank you for your question. Assuming your coagulometer is working properly and the reagents are valid, the most likely possibility is that the specimen was partially clotted and the coagulation system proteins had been consumed. This occurs, for instance, when the specimen is not properly mixed immediately after collection, and the clot may go undetected after centrifugation. Additionally, but less likely, the specimen may have been stored for too long or at too high a temperature, causing the deterioration of some of the coagulation factors. I suspect if you repeat the assay on a properly collected specimen, the results will be in the respected range. Geo.
