Platelet transfusions can be necessary during treatment of patients with thrombocytopenia or impaired Platelet function. Platelet function in Platelet concentrates (PC) deteriorate with storage time. Studying swirling is often used to control the quality of PC?s before transfusion but the method has some disadvantages. Therefore other methods can be useful, for example impedance aggregometry (IA, Multiplate® Analyzer) to measure Platelet function.     In this study the change in Platelet function over time was examined in buffy coat and apheresis Platelets with IA where aggregation had been induced with adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and collagen.

 Conclusion:Medical treatment may have a role in Platelet count after transfusion. Since the TACSI Platelets passed the quality requirements, and the vast majority of patients Platelet count increased after TACSI Platelet transfusion, the TACSI Platelets will replace the old method to produce Platelets at the Uppsala University hospital.  Methods: A new approach that pools 8 buffy coats (TACSI Platelets) that were separated into 2 units instead of 4-6 buffy coats pooled to 1 unit was investigated in this study. After the Platelets were extracted from the buffy coats their quality was controlled and subsequently the Platelet product was evaluated in 96 patients. Results: The results showed that 80 % of the Platelet units passed the European quality requirements. Further, the Platelet count was increased in most patients that received TACSI Platelets. Conclusion: Medical treatment may have a role in Platelet count after transfusion.

Platelets are small fragments, but they are of crucial importance for the coagulation. The risk of spontaneous bleeding increases when the level of Platelets falls below a thrombocyte particle concentration threshold value of 50 x 109/L. In those cases a Platelet transfusion might be compulsory. Ongoing research tries to improve the quality of the Platelets and to increase the safety of the method used. However, we still need to better understand which factors that affect how patients react upon Platelet transfusion.

Platelet aggregation is a major and common problem in blood samples from cats. This greatly affects the accuracy of counting of the Platelets. Because of the difficulties in counting feline Platelets, results for patients and reliable reference values for cat Platelets are currently so inaccurate as to be almost useless in diagnosis of thrombocytopenia. In this study we used an effective method to prevent Platelet aggregation. Blood was collected in CTAD test tubes and prostaglandin E1 was added to the blood sample.

Introduction: It is recommended to place all the vacuum tubes directly on a sample cradle after vein puncture to prevent analytic error. This recommendation is not always easy to follow because the samples are taken by different professionals under different situations.  The three most common analyses, Platelets count, haemoglobin and prothrombin time were tested.  Therefore, it was interesting to compare results from the three most common analyses with or without sample cradle, to evaluate the influence of this step on the result. Methods: Three analyses were preformed, using blood from 50 different persons. Each person gave two vacuum tubes, each contained 4.5mL of venous blood for the study.

During the years 2005-2007 several cases of abnormal bleeding were seen after surgery in Bengal cats on veterinary clinics and animal hospitals in Sweden. In this study we have examined if the observed bleedings are due to an inherited defect of the coagulation cascade. Ten Bengal cats were tested for activated partial thromboplastin time (P-APT-time) and one-stage protrombin time (P-PK), and nine of these cats were tested for fibrinogen quantity (P-fibrinogen). Four of the tested cats had shown signs of an abnormal bleeding after surgery, and five of the cats were genetically related to these cats. One cat had a small bleeding wound at the internal base of the right auricle.

Hematology-instruments that analyze blood cells can at specific cases be followed by manual counting with a hemocytometer. The plastic hemocytometer which has a fixed coverslip and is assigned for disposable use, appears to reduce the problems arising from the use of the traditional glass hemocytometer, for instance coverslip-application difficulty and dust particles. Capillary whole blood sampling may be useful for patients at the emergency department and in addition, a smaller volume of blood is taken compared to venous blood sampling. This study will focus on the Platelet- and leukocyte count (PLT and WBC) in venous and capillary blood, in order to compare the plastic- and glass hemocytometers with Sysmex XN-2000 (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan), and verify if capillary whole blood sampling can be used for the measurement of these hematological parameters. 30 subjects donated both capillary- and venous blood samples and these blood samples were analyzed with glass- and plastic hemocytometers with Sysmex XN-2000 as the reference method.

Immunmedierad trombocytopeni (IMT) är en vanlig rubbning i primära hemostasen och uppstår som en konsekvens av för tidig destruktion av trombocyter (blodplättar). Denna destruktion beror på en ökad produktion av trombocytbundna antikroppar (Platelet-bound antibodies, PBA) som binder in till antigen i trombocytväggen. Antikroppsproduktionen, som är en immunologisk process, kan dels uppstå spontant genom en autoimmun reaktion (primär IMT), eller triggas av infektioner eller neoplasier (sekundär IMT). Diagnosticering av IMT, och då syftas framför allt på primär IMT, sker främst utifrån uteslutande av andra bakomliggande orsaker, då en specifik diagnostisk metod inte finns tillgänglig. Tester för att påvisa PBA finns, men deras betydelse för både diagnostik och prognos har länge varit oklar. Denna uppsats syftar till att sammanfatta forskning som finns tillgänglig om betydelsen av påvisande av PBA vid IMT, men även forskning kring den immunologiska bakgrunden till sjukdomen.

Two haematological instruments intended for small animal clinic use were evaluated at the Department of Clinical Chemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. The QBC-V and Vet abc were compared to a reference instrument, the Cell-Dyn 3500. Fresh blood samples were obtained from canine and feline patients from the University Veterinary Hospital, SLU. The QBC-V was used for 111 canine samples and 78 canine blood samples were analysed with Vet abc. From cats, 23 samples were analysed with both instruments.

High quality within a Lean production system begins with standardised work, which creates stable processes able to generate predictable output. If nonconformity from the standard procedures occurs, routines are needed to analyse, correct and prevent the nonconformity from occurring again. In that way, the nonconformity can be a trigger for continuous improvements toward more stable processes. In takted production lines, where the operator follows a standard sequence with tasks set to be completed within the takt time, a nonconformity leads to downtime in the operator?s sequence, and no value is added.