Rational use of the PFA-100 device for screening of platelet function disorders and von Willebrand disease

Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis. 2002 Jun;13(4):349-53. doi: 10.1097/00001721-200206000-00011.

Abstract

Two hundred and five patients referred for evaluation of platelet functions and 126 healthy controls were tested with the PFA-100 instrument. A cut-off value of 150 s for collagen/epinephrine (CEPI) closure time (CT) produced most acceptable sensitivity (90%), specificity (85.2%), and positive (82.6%) and negative (91.6%) predictivity values for screening of platelet function disorders and von Willebrand disease (vWD). All patients with vWD and Glanzmann thrombasthenia could be detected by PFA-100. Both CEPI and collagen/adenosine diphosphate (CADP) CTs were elevated in all of these cases. Sensitivity of the device was 81.6% for patients with platelet secretion defects. CADP CT was normal in 63.9% of the patients in this subgroup. Specificity (47%) and positive predictivity (57%) of the instrument were diminished in patients with low hemoglobin concentrations. Depending on the results, an algorithm was developed for screening of platelet function disorders and vWD with PFA-100.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Decision Trees
  • Diagnostic Equipment*
  • Humans
  • Platelet Function Tests / instrumentation
  • Platelet Function Tests / methods
  • Platelet Function Tests / standards
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Thrombasthenia / blood
  • Thrombasthenia / diagnosis
  • von Willebrand Diseases / blood
  • von Willebrand Diseases / diagnosis*