A Useful Modification of the Prothrombin Time.

medical profession with a very useful tool. This test is widely used today for control of anticoagulant therapy, as a preoperative test of hemostatic function, and as a liver function test, both in geriatric and pediatric practice. However, the methodology of the usual procedure either excludes or limits its employment for certain types of patients: the patient with poor or thronibosed VC1flS, tile apprehensive acute cardiac on anticoagulant treatmnent who becomes agitated upon venipuncture, tile pediatric patient requiring repeated determinations, and others. This has given impetus for devising a modification of the prothrornbin test which would have the advantages of being simple, dependable, universally applicable, and of supplying the physician with results in a short time, even in a large hospital service. It is the purpose of this paper to describe a modification of the prothrombin test which has beeii found applicable to every type of patient, employs a nhinimum amount of blood, and allows an accurate result to be recorded within 3-4 miii. after obtaining the specimen.