[Examination of the sample centrifugation time for emergency coagulation test]

The rapidity of coagulation testing is important for use as appropriate substitution therapy in patients with, or at risk of critical bleeding requiring massive transfusion. Whereas the ordinary method of coagulation testing is known to be slow, in a critically haemorrhaging patient, a rapid turnaround time of coagulation testing becomes indispensable. To find out if coagulation test results will be affected by a shortened centrifugation time, we measured PT (prothrombin time), APTT (activated partial thromboplastin time), FIB (fibrinogen) and PLT (platelet) in plasma, using different centrifugation times (10 min, 5 min, 3 min), and analyzed the measurements. We found that, whereas centrifugation time significantly affected the PLT count in plasma (10 min; 5.17 +/- 3.71 x 10(3)/microl, 5min; 28. +/- 26.9 x 10(3)/microl, 3min; 63.7 x 10(3)/microl), PT(10min; 14.6 +/- 5.76 sec, 5min; 14.7 +/- 5.84 sec, 3min; 14.9 +/- 6.40 sec), APTT (10min; 36.4 +/- 15.9 sec, 5min; 36.8 +/- 16.5 sec, 3min; 34.7 +/- 11.4 sec) and FIB(10min; 361 +/- 134 mg/dl, 5min; 356 +/- 132 mg/dl, 3min; 356 +/- 125 mg/dl) were not affected. These data suggest that shortening centrifugation time will have no significant effect on the value of PT, APTT and FIB, in an emergency situation.