A calibrated automated tool to assess the thrombotic-haemostatic system.

Abstract

Thrombosis is the leading cause of death in the West; world-wide, someone dies from arterial thrombosis, venous thrombo-embolism, stroke or other manifestation of this disease every second. On the other hand, we all survive regular minor injuries due to the complicated but effective system that keeps the blood fluid inside the vessels but causes it to clot at the site of a damaged vessel. Hence the thrombotic-haemostatic system is a major cause of mortality as well as being essential for survival. Biochemically there is no difference between thrombosis and haemostasis. Both result in the appearance and consolidation of a clot at the site of an injury or, in case of thrombosis, on the inside of a vessel wall that has pathologically changed so that it appears to be injured. This injury stimulates the system to respond. Blood at a wounded vessel comes into contact with exposed Tissue Factor (TF), severed cells with negatively charged phospholipids, and collagen. A mixture of TF and phospholipid membrane, also called thromboplastin, was formerly purified from brain tissue and used to trigger the in vitro clotting of blood or plasma.