Another drug made from " E . carinatus " venom is called " ecarin " and is the primary reagent in the ecarin clotting time ( ECT ) test, which is used to monitor anticoagulation during treatment with hirudin.
22.
Hageman factor was first discovered in 1955 when a routine preoperative blood sample of the 37-year-old railroad brakeman John Hageman ( 1918 ) was found to have prolonged clotting time in test tubes, even though he had no hemorrhagic symptoms.
23.
However, if the clotting time of the mixed plasma corrects towards normal, the diagnosis of an inhibitor such as the lupus anticoagulant is excluded; the diagnosis is a deficient quantity of clotting factor that is replenished by the normal plasma.
24.
Based on the symptoms presented, a range of biochemical tests ( using blood and / or urine samples ) may also be considered as part of the screening process to provide sufficient quantitative analysis of any differences in electrolytes, renal and liver function, and blood clotting times.
25.
This excessive clotting factor consumption condition is known as disseminated intravascular coagulation or " DIC . " DIC can be difficult to diagnose, but a strong clue is low fibrinogen levels in the setting of prolonged clotting times ( aPTT ), in the context of acute critical illness such as sepsis or trauma.
