Thrombophillia Panel

More About Thrombophillia Panel

Full Blood count (FBC)
Full blood count determines general health status. It is used as a screen for a variety of disorders, such as anaemia and infection, inflammation nutritional status and exposure to toxic substances.

Anticardiolipin anibodies
Tests for cardiolipin antibodies are useful in finding the cause of an unexplained thrombotic episode, recurrent miscarriage, or thrombocytopenia. In women it they may be linked and requested with recurrent miscarriages. They may also be requested with lupus anticoagulant testing to help investigate the cause of a prolonged PTT (activated partial thromboplastin time), especially if clinical findings suggest that the patient may have SLE or another autoimmune disorder. If these test results are normal but clinical suspicions still exist, further cardiolipin antibody testing may be requested.

Prothrombin time (PT)
The Prothrombin time (PT) test, standardised as the INR test is most often used to check how well anti-coagulant or "blood-thinning" tablets such as warfarin and phenindione are working. Anti-coagulant tablets help prevent the formation of blood clots (they do not "thin the blood" as is popularly thought). This is particularly important in people with heart conditions such as atrial fibrillation or artificial valves, or people with a history of recurrent blood clots. The drug's effectiveness can be determined by how much it prolongs the PT (measured in seconds), or increases the INR (a standardised ratio of the patient's PT versus a normal sample). Because the way the body metabolises the drug varies among individuals as well as within the same person every day a repeat test has to be done approximately every 4 weeks to ensure that the dose of the drug is the correct one, for the condition treated.

aPTT
The aPTT test measures the length of time (in seconds) that it takes for clotting to occur when reagents are added to plasma (liquid portion of the blood) in a test tube and is used to check for potential bleeding abnormalities particularly in patients about to undergo surgical procedures.
The activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT or PTT) is a measure of the functionality of the intrinsic and common pathways of the coagulation cascade. The body uses the coagulation cascade to produce blood clots to seal off injuries to blood vessels and tissues, to prevent further blood loss, and to give the damaged areas time to heal. The cascade consists of a group of coagulation factors. These proteins are activated sequentially along either the extrinsic (tissue related) or intrinsic (blood vessel related) pathways. The branches of the pathway then come together into the common pathway, and complete their task with the formation of a stable blood clot. When a person starts bleeding, these three pathways have to work together.
Each component of the coagulation cascade must be functioning properly and be present in sufficient quantity for normal blood clot formation. If there is an inherited or acquired deficiency in one or more of the factors, or if the factors are functioning abnormally, then stable clot formation will be inhibited and excessive bleeding and/or clotting may occur.
The aPTT test measures the length of time (in seconds) that it takes for clotting to occur when reagents are added to plasma (liquid portion of the blood) in a test tube.

Protein C and protein S
To help evaluate a thrombotic episode, to determine whether you may have an inherited or acquired Protein C or Protein S deficiency

Blood Clotting Evaluation
Each component of the coagulation cascade must be functioning properly and be present in sufficient quantity for normal blood clot formation. If there is an inherited or acquired deficiency in one or more of the factors, or if the factors are functioning abnormally, then stable clot formation will be inhibited and excessive bleeding and/or clotting may occur.

Fibrinogen
Helps in the evaluation of your body's ability to form and break down blood clots. Fibrinogen may be used as a follow-up to an abnormal Prothrombin Time (PT) or activated Partial Prothrombin Time (aPTT, or PTT) and/or an episode of prolonged or unexplained bleeding. It may be measured, along with tests such as PT, aPTT, platelets, fibrin degradation products (FDP), and D-dimer to help diagnose disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Sometimes fibrinogen is requested with other cardiac risk markers such as high sensitivity C-Reactive protein (hsCRP), to help determine a patient's overall risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This use of fibrinogen has not gained widespread acceptance though, because there are no direct treatments for elevated levels. However, some doctors feel fibrinogen measurements give them additional information that may lead them to be more aggressive in treating those risk factors that they can influence (such as cholesterol and HDL.

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