aPTT

Overview:

Clotting depends on a sequence of proteins in the blood activating one after another. The activated partial thromboplastin time, or aPTT, measures how long a specific part of that sequence takes to form a clot in the laboratory. A longer than expected time can indicate that one of those proteins is missing, reduced, or being blocked, which happens in inherited conditions such as hemophilia, in liver disease, and with certain antibodies. The test is also the standard way to monitor people treated with unfractionated heparin. Results are usually read alongside prothrombin time, since the two cover different parts of the clotting sequence.

Categories:

Blood

Biomarkers:

1 biomarker