Evaluation of coagulation parameters and impact of transfusion on coagulation in patients with beta thalassemia major

In this study, we evaluated whether or not the platelet function analyser (PFA-200) and thrombin generation test (TGT) would be useful tools to identify hypercoagulability and risk of thrombosis in thalassemia major patients. The study included 50 patients with thalassemia major and 104 healthy control group. Pretransfusion and posttransfusion PFA-200 and TGT results were compared with control group. We found that median C/ADP and C/EPI values in the thalassemia major group were greater in both the pre and posttransfusion samples than the C/ADP and C/EPI results from the control group. The TGT results showed there was no difference between control group and the results from the thalassemia major group. The TGT and PFA-200 testing did not identify hypercoagulability nor identify clear testing parameters to predict a thalassemia major patient's risk of thrombosis. There may be other mechanisms/causes yet unidentified that could better explain thalassemia major patient's increased risk from thromboembolic events.
Source: Blood Coagulation and Fibrinolysis - Category: Hematology Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLES Source Type: research