Specimen Collection

4.5 mL Plain Blood

OR

• 0.5 mL (minimum) frozen serum.

Reference Intervals

Reported as Negative or Positive .

Turnaround Time: Between 1 hour and 1 day

Urgent requests - within 60-minutes of receipt in Haemostasis laboratory.

Non-urgent - within 24-hours.

Assay Method

Lateral Flow Immunoassay.

Diagnostic Use and Interpretation

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a serious complication from heparin use, arising from the
binding of antibody against heparin-platelet Factor 4 (PF4) complexes onto platelets. This leads to a
prothrombotic state from the platelet activation, with thrombocytopenia from platelet consumption and
risk of arterial or venous thrombosis. Early diagnosis and management of HIT is essential to avoid the
morbidity and even mortality from the uncontrolled thrombosis(1).

Diagnosis of HIT is based on clinical criteria of thrombocytopenia and/or thrombosis with a temporal
relationship to heparin use (usually after 5-14 days of heparin exposure, or earlier if there is previous
heparin exposure), and the laboratory demonstration of platelet activating HIT (anti-Heparin/PF4) antibody.

The lateral flow immunoassay is used in this laboratory to test for the HIT antibody (IgG antibody against PF4/polyanion complexes). IgA and IgM class antibodies are not detected (2)

References

1. Cuker A, Clines DB. How I treat heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Blood 2012; 119:2209-2218.
2. Stago STic Expert HIT Kit insert REF 01058,01059.

Heparin PF4 ELISA

Contact Information

For further information contact the Haematology laboratory (Ext 22067) or:

Dr Nicola Eaddy		Ext 22005
Dr Peter Bradbeer		Ext 22062
Dr Anna Ruskova		Ext 22137
Dr Nikhil Rabade		Ext 22071

Specimen Transport Instructions for Referring Laboratories

Platelet poor frozen plasma/serum.

Last updated at 13:02:09 11/09/2024