[Modified capillary blood prothrombin-time test for the calculation of an international normalized ratio]

Prothrombin time (PT) is usually measured in citrated venous blood. This test is undesirable in pediatric practice and in patients taking anticoagulants due to frequent venepunctures. Capillary blood PT test has no adverse impact. The authors have developed a standardized modified method for PT measurement in capillary blood. The adequacy of the test is due to the fact that analyzed test packed cell volumes are kept in mind. The modified test has shown that the values of normal plasma PT may be used to calculate an international normalized ratio (INR). It makes it possible to determine capillary blood PT in the range of packed cell volumes from 0.15 to 0.7 in the examinees and to monitor anticoagulant therapy. The results of the modified test closely correlated with those when determining PT and INR in venous plasma (r = 0.99) and applying the CoaguChek test (r = 0.97).