Diagnostic analysis of lupus anticoagulant using clot waveform analysis in activated partial thromboplastin time prolonged cases: A retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hemophilia was diagnosed in precedence research of clot waveform analysis (CWA) using the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). In patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), lupus anticoagulant (LA) causes an increase in APTT, suggesting that the waveform would probably be distorted. Therefore, we evaluated using clinical samples. CWA may be useful low cost for clinical detection of LA. We assessed the clinical value of CWA for detection of LA and coagulation using clinical blood samples collected from patients with a prolonged APTT. METHODS: We used patient samples inspected between April 2011 and March 2013 in Yamagata University Hospital. CWA was performed using the ACL TOP coagulation analyzer, and the associated software program was used to calculate APTT clotting endpoints. An atypical peak was defined as a derivative plot that did not conform to the normal S-shaped clot reaction curve. RESULTS: In total, 162 patients, including 66 men and 96 women, with an average age of 46 years (range: 24-89 years) were included. We also collected control samples from unmatched healthy donors. All 162 patients were divided according to medication history or condition into the following five groups: heparin (n = 20), warfarin (n = 23), hepatic dysfunction (n = 13), normal (n = 20), and LA-positive antiphospholipid syndrome (APS; n = 86). Twenty healthy individuals were included as controls.Eighty patients had an atypical peak. Among all, 78 patients (90.6%) were LA-positive, and 2 patients (2.5%) were treated with warfarin. The remaining two patients had prothrombin time international normalized ratios (PT-INR) >4.0 while taking warfarin. Those who were APS LA positive with thrombosis and without thrombosis had split the reaction of clotting time, deceleration/acceleration time (D/A) ratio of 2.36 (1.99,3.24) vs 2.34 (2.04,2.86), respectively. CONCLUSION: The significant atypical peak and D/A ratio extension may be explained by the clotting waveforms observed specifically in patients with LA-positive APS.

Direct comparison of prognostic ability of cardiac biomarkers for cardiogenic stroke and clinical outcome in patients with stroke.

Despite many recent advances in medicine, cardiogenic stroke is still a health problem with a high mortality rate. Cardiac biomarkers have been reported to be useful indicators for cardiogenic stroke and subsequent cerebrovascular events. However, there are no data directly comparing the cardiac biomarkers in stroke patients. We measured atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) levels and performed transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography in 282 stroke patients. There were 108 cases of cardiogenic stroke and 47 cases of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) during the follow-up period. Association with left atrial function and left atrial appendage function appeared somewhat stronger for BNP and NT-proBNP than ANP and hsTnT. Multivariate logistic analysis demonstrated that cardiac biomarkers excluding ANP were significantly associated with cardiogenic stroke in stroke patients, multivariate Cox's proportional hazards regression analysis demonstrated that all biomarkers were significantly associated with MACCE after adjustment for confounding risk factors. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the C indices of BNP and NT-proBNP for cardiogenic stroke and MACCE were almost equal, but significantly greater than those of ANP and hsTnT. Both BNP and NT-proBNP levels are useful predictors of cardiogenic stroke and subsequent MACCE superior to ANP and hsTnT in stroke patients.

Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) and N-Terminal-proBNP in Cardio-Renal Anemia Syndrome　- Difference in Prognostic Ability.

Background: Cardio-renal anemia syndrome (CRAS) is a growing health problem, with a high mortality rate. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) are well-established diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of heart failure (HF). The difference in the clinical significance of these biomarkers, however, has not yet been completely elucidated in HF. The aim of the present study was to compare the prognostic ability of BNP and NT-proBNP in HF patients with CRAS. Methods and Results: We measured BNP and NT-proBNP in 492 consecutive HF patients and in 17 control subjects. All patients were prospectively followed up during a median follow-up period of 1,034 days. NT-proBNP/BNP ratio was elevated in HF patients with CRAS compared with those without CRAS and the control subjects. There was no significant difference in the prognostic abilities of BNP and NT-proBNP in all HF patients. The C-index for NT-proBNP for predicting cardiovascular events and mortality, however, was significantly higher than that for BNP in HF patients with CRAS. On multivariate Cox proportional hazards-regression analysis, NT-proBNP, but not BNP, was an independent predictor for clinical outcome in HF with CRAS. Conclusions: The difference in the prognostic abilities of BNP and NT-proBNP was high in HF patients with CRAS. NT-proBNP had a superior prognostic ability to BNP in HF patients with CRAS.

[Improvement of the system for collecting blood samples, at the Division of Clinical Laboratory in Yamagata University Hospital, based on the complaints of patients: The way to perform the newly-developed 30-min changeover method for collecting blood samples by medical technologists].

The collection of blood samples is one of the most essential procedures in laboratory examinations for the clinical diagnosis of patients. However, it is not always easy to carry out the procedure smoothly. At the Division of Clinical Laboratory in Yamagata University Hospital, we have tried to employ the best way to collect blood samples without any troubles or complaints. However, there were some complaints made by patients over several years, and one of these was that the waiting time for patients was too long. Therefore, we established a new system: all medical technologists joined the program and one took charge of collecting blood samples for 30 min, and then another technologist took over. The system was important for medical technologists since the duty allocation was impartial, and their routine work was not disturbed. We are proud of this newly-developed 30-min turn in collecting blood samples in our hospital.

Clinical utility and approach to estimate postprandial hypertriglycemia by a newly designed oral fat-loading test.

The objective of this study was to estimate postprandial hypertriglycemia by a newly designed oral fat-loading test. Twenty-three healthy normolipidemic volunteers were orally administered a test meal consisting of a mixture of Telmeal 2.0 and 20 g of salt-free butter after fasting for 12 h. To measure the levels of total cholesterol (T-Cho), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), remnant-like particle-cholesterol (RLP-C), lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)], free fatty acid, apolipoproteins (Apos), plasma glucose (PG), immunoreactive insulin (IRI), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), venous blood samples were collected before the meal and at each hour until 9 h after fat-loading. The levels of both TG and RLP-C were drastically elevated at 2 h after fat-loading and these levels remained high until 4 h (p < 0.01). A significant correlation between TG and RLP-C was also observed at 2, 3 and 4 h, and the values of the correlation coefficients (r) were 0.837, 0.838, and 0.908, respectively. In contrast, the levels of T-Cho, HDL-C, Lp (a), Apos, PG, and hs-CRP did not change. Furthermore, there were no gastrointestinal symptoms during or after the study. These results strongly suggested that this newly designed fat-loading test was very useful for evaluating postprandial hypertriglycemia, including remnant concentrations.