The prevention of extracorporeal clotting during hemodialysis maximizes the effectiveness of treatment by maintaining patency in the dialyzer blood compartment and thereby obviating several important consequences. For example, clotting leads directly to blood loss, as much as 200-300 ml for each episode, depending on the total volume of the extracorporeal circuit. In addition, clotting reduces ...

BACKGROUND A single bolus dose of LMW heparin at the start of haemodialysis effectively prevents clot formation in the dialyser and bubble trap. However, there are few studies on the appropriate dosage of LMW heparins in haemodialysis. Therefore we examined the relationship between the anticoagulant effect of dalteparin and clinical clotting during haemodialysis. METHODS We performed an open,...

Premature circuit clotting is a major problem in daily practice of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), increasing blood loss, workload, and costs. Early clotting is related to bioincompatibility, critical illness, vascular access, CRRT circuit, and modality. This review discusses non-anticoagulant and anticoagulant measures to prevent circuit failure. These measures include optimizatio...

Cancer cells outwit the immune system long before they debut as visible tumors, say Willimsky et al. (page 1687). Despite a wealth of studies, researchers still don't know when the immune system is alerted to the presence of cancer cells or when its response is subverted. Part of the problem stems from the fact that T cell responses in most animal models are tracked only after tumors form. To g...

Vascular disease accounts for more than 50% of deaths and in most cases the cause lies in obstruction to blood flow by the twin perils of atheroma formation and thrombosis. The major constituents of thrombi are platelets and fibrin, together with trapped red cells and other elements. Our main antithrombotic drugs are the antiplatelet agents to prevent platelets sticking together; anticoagulants...

After two years of producing The Clotting Times we at the ECAT have now chosen a brand new, fresh layout. In the content you can see that every rubric from now on has its own colour. In this way you can easy recognize a particular item in the pages which follow. Every issue will start with a “focus article” which in this issue gives you an update on pre-analytical issues in platelet function te...

Coagulation problems are very common in intensive care patients. It is important to recognize potential problems, perform a rapid assessment, and start therapy. The author reviews general clinical and laboratory approaches to diagnosis and treatment of the bleeding patient and to correction of coagulopathies. This review outlines a set of often catastrophic coagulation problems, which may prese...

The recombinant era for haemophilia began in the early 1980s with the cloning and subsequent expression of functional proteins for both factors VIII and IX. Efficient production of recombinant clotting factors in mammalian cell culture systems required overcoming significant challenges due to the complex post-translational modifications that were integral to their pro-coagulant function. The qu...