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Thromb Haemost 1993; 70(06): 0959-0962
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1649707
Original Article
Coagulation
Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart

The Influence of Oral Contraceptives on the Time-Integral of Thrombin Generation (Thrombin Potential)

R C Rotteveel
1   The Department of Clinical Chemistry, Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
,
K J Roozendaal
2   The Department of Haematology, Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
,
L Eijsman
3   The Department of Cardiopulmonary Surgery, Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
,
H C Hemker
4   The Department of Biochemistry, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 03 March 1993

Accepted after revision 24 August 1993

Publication Date:
06 July 2018 (online)

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Summary

The thrombin potential (TP) has been defined as the time integral of (i.e. the area under) the thrombin generation curve. It has been shown that this parameter decreases with all types of anticoagulant treatment and increases with ATIII deficiency.

We evaluated the use of this parameter for detection of the hypercoagulative state known to accompany oral contraception.

In fresh frozen control plasma the TP could be determined with high reproducibility (n = 82, c.v. 2.9%). The TP was linearly diminished by mixing fresh frozen plasma with prothrombin deficient plasma while a high coefficient of correlation was observed (r = 0.997).

Women using oral contraceptives showed a significantly (p <0.0001) higher TP (TP = 569 nM·min, SD = 55, n = 17), compared to men or, to women not using oral contraceptives (TP = 484 nM·min, SD = 52, n = 41).

This suggests that the thrombin potential indicates the prethrombotic state known to exist in women using oral contraceptives.

 

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