suscitation and surgery and during the first days of convalescence. The one stage prothrombin time was employed as one index of hepat-ic function. It was observed that following wounding and resuscitation with stored blood, prothrombin activity fell to about 50 per cent of normal. This was followed, within four days, by a return toward normal which persisted one to three days. Following this ri...

We have measured the fully carboxylated (native) prothrombin antigen and the undercarboxylated (abnormal) prothrombin antigen in patients treated with sodium warfarin using specific immunoassays to evaluate a new approach for monitoring oral anticoagulant therapy. Plasma and serum samples (391) were assayed for the prothrombin time, native prothrombin antigen, and abnormal prothrombin antigen. ...

Dam and his colleagues (1934, 1936) were the first to show the important role of vitamin K in the synthesis of prothrombin in the liver. Numerous studies by Hawkins and Brinkhous (1936), Dam and Glavind (1938), Zuckerman et al. (1939), and Clark et al. (1939) have since established the efficiency of this vitamin in combating certain hsemorrhagic states, characterized by lowered prothrombin leve...

The worldwide increase in the scale of oral anticoagulant treatment in recent years has followed publication of clinical reports demonstrating their value in a widening spectrum of disorders[1]. A 10% increase per annum is estimated for EU countries[2]. Increased benefit/risk ratio resulting from lower dose oral anticoagulant administration combined with implementation of the WHO INR system of ...