Plateletworks: a novel point of care platelet function screen

Platelet function is critically important in the acute-care settings of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention, which are commonly associated with the adverse vascular events of hemorrhage and thrombosis, respectively. To improve outcomes, it has been suggested that patients should be screened for platelet count and function periprocedurally, and therapeutic intervention including the possible use of thrombolytics and adequate anticoagulation or administration of antiplatelet agents, should be utilized. Antiplatelet therapy including aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), the thienopyridines (clopidopgrel), and parenteral anti-glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa agents (abciximab, tirofiban, and eptifibatide) are recognized as clinically important in patients at risk of developing thrombotic events. Recently, it has been recognized that empiric therapeutic administration of these agents may be suboptimal in clinical environments because of interpatient variability with regard to platelet count, platelet response, receptor concentration on the platelet, and other factors. Hence there is a clinical need to monitor such therapies on an individual basis. Traditional platelet tests including light transmission aggregometry (LTA) are inconvenient for acute diagnostic testing because of the complexity of the test and the requirement for specialty training. Hence, 'near-patient' test systems have recently been introduced. Plateletworks is an in vitro diagnostic, point-of-care test platform that has demonstrated utility in monitoring platelet response to all current antiplatelet agents including aspirin and clopidogrel.