No wonder there is such an expression that blood is life. It circulates through the blood vessels literally throughout our body and nourishes every organ and every cell with necessary useful substances and oxygen, regulates acid-base balance and internal water-salt balance, stabilizes the required temperature and protects the body with antibodies.
Coagulation function
Coagulability is a mechanism for converting liquid blood into a clot with a dense consistency. Such a mechanism is activated at the slightest damage to the walls of the blood vessel, which provokes the release of a certain type of protein. The platelet group closest to the affected area changes its usual shape to a spherical, having additional processes for adhesion to other cells. The purpose of this transformation and cell connection is the formation of compacted bonds. Such clots perform the function of blocking the places of breaks in tissues, preventing the loss of valuable blood by the vessel and preventing harmful substances from entering the open bleeding wound.
This coagulation process is called hemostasis.
Existing coagulation tests
It is worth noting that there is no separate analysis for platelets or for coagulability. These indicators are identified during the following diagnostic tests:
- General blood test (provides information on the number of platelets in the patient’s blood).
- Lee White Study.
- Blood test for coagulation according to Sukharev.
- Coagulogram.
Sukharev analysis
Sukharev blood coagulation is a simple blood test taken from a capillary. It is carried out as follows:
- 1 ml of blood taken from a finger is placed in a special test tube (Panchenkov's apparatus).
- Time is detected.
- The temperature inside the apparatus must be maintained at exactly 37 degrees so that the analyzed biological material is at the same temperature.
- At 30-second intervals, the capillary leans to the sides so that blood that does not coagulate can flow along the walls.
- As soon as the blood stopped flowing, it completely coagulated. The stopwatch stops and the clotting time value is determined.
The blood coagulation test according to Sukharev is performed immediately from the date of delivery of the biological material. Accordingly, at a remote location of the laboratory, the results of the analysis may not be particularly reliable. For this reason, this method is not carried out in every hospital.
The duration of the entire procedure (from blood sampling to recording results) is no more than fifteen minutes.
Norm
According to Sukharev, the norm of blood coagulation is considered to be at least two and no more than five minutes.
The established norm is the same for everyone; there are no differences by age or gender. Thus, the indicative rate of blood coagulation according to Sukharev in children and adults, as well as in men and women, is the same - from two to five minutes.
Indications for the appointment of an analysis according to Sukharev
An analysis is prescribed by the attending physician in the following cases:
- A blood clotting test according to Sukharev in a child and an adult is necessarily checked in the preparation process before surgery. This assesses the future risk of probable life-threatening blood loss.
- During pregnancy, it is necessary to take coagulation tests several times. With the norm of blood coagulation according to Sukharev in women during the period of bearing a child, permission is given for childbirth (natural or cesarean section).
- With internal or external bleeding resulting from injuries.
- With a planned physical examination.
- With a predisposition to the formation of blood clots, thrombosis, varicose veins, thromboembolism.
- After a heart attack, stroke.
- With a pre-infarction condition.
- With coronary heart disease.
- In the presence of regular arrhythmias.
- If pathologies are found in the circulatory system.
- With impaired liver function.
- When taking anticoagulant drugs.
- With hemorrhagic pathological processes in the body.
- When diagnosing chronic anemia.
- With constant unpredictable nosebleeds.
- With heavy and long menstrual flow.
- In the presence of bleeding in urine or feces.
- With sudden blindness.
- With a long course of taking anabolics, glucocorticosteroids, oral contraceptives.
If the readings are below the established norm
If the coagulation time according to Sukharev is less than two minutes, then the cause may be the following:
- Hypercoagulation due to severe hemorrhage.
- The period after surgery or childbirth.
- The first stage of DIC.
- Side effect of contraceptives of synthetic origin.
If the indicators are above the established norm
If the coagulation time according to Sukharev is more than five minutes, then this is the result:
- Serious deficiency of plasma factors that are part of the prothrombin complex (ninth, eighth, seventh, first factors).
- Coagulopathy, inherited.
- Impaired fibrinogen conversion.
- Liver disease.
- The course of treatment with heparin.
How to properly prepare the body for the test according to Sukharev
Blood from a finger is advised to donate in the morning, completely on an empty stomach. If, for certain reasons, the analysis is given at a different time of the day, then you can not eat food at least three hours before. It is allowed to drink only water, but the use of juice, tea and coffee, especially with sugar, is strictly prohibited - otherwise the result will be erroneous.
Interesting Facts
Such a rare and life-threatening genetic disease, as hemophilia (a violation of the blood coagulation process), causes serious harm only to the representatives of the male half of the population. A woman can only be a carrier of this gene with pathology, but the disease itself does not affect her health in any way.
There are several types of diseases associated with violations in the number of platelets in the blood and their activity:
- Any deviations in these indicators are called thrombocytopathy.
- If the platelet count in the blood is low, then this pathology is called thrombocytopenia.
- If the level of such a major component of the blood as platelets is higher than normal, then this is a disease of thrombocytosis.
- When impaired functional activity is detected, this disease is called thrombasthenia.
At Harvard University, a group of scientists and students discovered an interesting relationship between the amount of fibrinogen (a protein that is produced in the liver and converted into a fibrin base for the formation of a clot during the activation of the blood coagulation process) and the number of human contacts in society. Based on the results of studies, conclusions were drawn, the narrower the circle of communication with people, the higher the level of fibrinogen. And this, in turn, causes irreparable harm to health, especially fatal to the cardiovascular system. Therefore, communicating with other people is useful not only for mental health, but also for physical!
Some private laboratories provide the service of taking an analysis of biological material for blood coagulation directly at home, that is, you do not need to go to the laboratory yourself. It is very convenient for the disabled, the elderly and small children.