Seminars in thrombosis and hemostasis
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Semin. Thromb. Hemost. · Oct 2010
ReviewCritical factors contributing to the thromboelastography trace.
The thromboelastography trace provides a graphical and numerical representation of the viscoelastic changes associated with fibrin polymerization. When used with whole blood, the shape of this trace is a composite of the effects of white and red cell content and composition, platelet number and function, fibrinogen concentration, as well as coagulation protein function and balance. The trace is also influenced by pharmacological agents such as anticoagulants, antiplatelet therapy, and coagulation factor supplementation. ⋯ New applications for pharmaceutical monitoring and patient screening are being explored. This review gives a broad overview of the applications of the technology. In particular it considers the factors that most influence the characteristics of the trace, be they preanalytical, analytical, or clinical.
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Thromboelastography (TEG) has been used in experimental animal studies since the early 1960s and in a routine clinical setting for the past decade. From the data currently available, it is clear that both the scope and limitations of TEG in animals resemble those observed in humans. ⋯ TEG is often used in animals to monitor the effect of different pro- and anticoagulant drugs and often performs better at this task than conventional coagulation assays. TEG is already well established in veterinary medicine, and with the rapid dissemination of the technique currently taking place, we can expect to see a wide variety of interesting animal data published in the near future.