COAGULATION AND COAGULATION PATHWAYS AND TESTS:
Westergren pipettes lined up for testing the SED (sedimentation) rate
Warfarin/Coumadin is medication given to "thin the blood" and to treat blood clots or blood clotting conditions or to dissolve existing blood clots.
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The study of blood coagulation has been around since the days of Hippocrates, from about 400 B.C.
Coagulation describes the
Primary hemostasis:
Thrombosis:
Fibrinolysis:
Coagulation describes the
- process in which the body controls bleeding and keeps blood in a liquid form
- ability to form and remove a clot
- a system of checks and balances between thrombosis, or clot formation, and hemorrhage
- anticoagulants (prevent clotting)
- procoagulants (promote clotting)
Primary hemostasis:
- platelet function
- vasoconstriction (vessel narrowing)
- platelet plug formation
- coagulation proteins
- platelet phospholipids
- substrates
- enzymatic reactions
- fibrin formation
- conversion of soluble fibrinogen into insoluble fibrin clot by thrombin, formed by the precursor protein prothrombin
Thrombosis:
- inappropriate activation of the hemostasis system
- formation of pathogenic thrombi
- decrease of anticoagulants in the blood
- clot formation
Fibrinolysis:
- procoagulants decrease in circulation
- too much may result in bleeding/hemorrhage
