Clot waveform analysis using CS-2000i™ distinguishes between very low and absent levels of factor VIII activity in patients with severe haemophilia A.

INTRODUCTION: A recently developed method to assess comprehensive coagulation function, clot waveform analysis (CWA), accurately detect low levels (<1 IU/dL) of factor VIII activity (FVIII:C) in haemophilia A patients (HA-pts). Improvements are needed, however, to differentiate patients with very low from absent levels of FVIII:C.

AIM: We attempted to optimize CWA using the coagulation analyser CS-2000i™ to distinguish between very low levels and absent FVIII:C in severe HA-pts.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Activated partial thrombin time (aPTT)-based clot waveforms were determined in FVIII-deficient plasmas mixed with various amounts of recombinant FVIII. Clot times (CT) were shortened, and maximum coagulation velocity (|min1|) and acceleration (|min2|) were increased in FVIII dose-dependently at levels ranging from 0.25 to 100 IU/dL. The lowest level of FVIII:C detected was 0.25 IU/dL. Plasma samples from modestly severe (MS-HA; 0.5-<1.0 IU/dL), very severe (VS-HA; 0.25-<0.5 IU/dL), extremely severe (ES-HA; <0.25 IU/dL) and inhibitor-positive HA-pts (HA-inh) were examined. The CT was markedly prolonged in all instances but showed significant differences between the different groups insufficiently. The |min1| and |min2| in HA-inh were lower compared to the other groups (P<.05). A new parameter (slope-|min1|) reflecting average coagulation acceleration was derived. This index (median) was lower in HA-inh (0.0042) compared to ES-HA (0.0068) and VS-HA (0.011) with greater significant differences (P<.01), and an index of <.005 reflected the total absence of FVIII in the presence of inhibitor.

CONCLUSION: The slope-|min1| parameter could provide a useful index for evaluating very low and absent levels of FVIII and/or the development of FVIII inhibitor in HA-pts.