Coagulation and Blood Transfusion

I. Principles and fundamentals.- The mechanisms of thrombin formation.- Structure-function relationships of human coagulation proteins.- The role of calcium in coagulation and anticoagulation.- Effect of blood collection on the hemostatic potential of coagulation proteins.- Factor VIII yields from anticoagulant exchanged Haemonetics Ultralite(TM) plasma.- Discussion.- II.Preservation aspects.- Platelet function preservation.- Platelet adhesion to the vessel wall.- Trends in the production and use of coagulation factor concentrates.- Immunoaffinity purification of Factor VIII/von Willebrand factor complex.- Structural and functional properties of recombinant coagulation factors.- Discussion.- III. Laboratory Aspects.- Platelet counting and function testing.- Selection of platelet apheresis donors for alloimmunized patients by ELISA platelet crossmatch versus HLA-matching.- Clinical efficacy of platelet concentrates.- Principles of coagulation factor assays.- Standardization of clotting factor assays.- Protein C and S in swiss blood donors.- Clinical efficacy of clotting factor concentrates: survival, recovery and hemostatic capacity.- Discussion.- IV. Clinical consequences.- Principles in the treatment of bleeding.- The effect of chronic exposure to clotting factor concentrates on the immune system.- Liver transplantation and blood usage.- The use of aprotinin in cardiopulmonary bypass and the impact on hemostasis and blood transfusion.- Discussion.