Abstract
The prothrombin time (PT) is used for detecting abnormalities in the extrinsic pathway of blood coagulation and monitoring the effects of warfarin administration. A new PT dry reagent has been developed in Japan with an International Sensitivity Index (ISI) of approximately 1.0 by the COAG 2 N System (supplied by Wako Pure Chemical Industries Ltd). In this study, we investigated the basic performance of the new reagent using the COAG 2 N System. The new reagent showed good reproducibility, especially when citrated plasma or whole blood was used as a sample, yielding interference results similar to those of bilirubin-F, bilirubin-C, hemolytic hemoglobin, and intralipid. It provided a level of performance that would satisfy the needs of users. Using specimens of patients who were prescribed a warfarin agent, good correlations were obtained in comparison to current reagents with an ISI of approximately 1.0. These findings suggest that this new PT dry reagent may be useful in testing routine coagulation and monitoring the effects of warfarin administration.
