New approaches for measuring coagulation

Although specific assays of coagulation factors are essential for diagnostic purposes they only give partial information about an individual's haemostatic state. This can be better assessed by various global tests, and recent developments and evaluations of five such tests are described in this symposium: the PFA-100; waveform anal.; thrombin generation; overall haemostasis potential; thrombelastog. Each test has advantages in various applications, but the thrombin generation test and waveform anal. have been found most useful in haemophilia, while the PFA-100 is helpful in von Willebrand's disease. [on SciFinder (R)