Abnormal activated partial thromboplastin time and malignancy.

Malignancy often results in clotting abnormalities. The aetiology of haemostasis problems in cancer is complex, and is still not completely understood. We describe a case of a patient with malignant mesothelioma, who was found to have elevated activated partial thromboplastin time, due to lupus anticoagulant.

Severe gestational (incidental) thrombocytopenia: to treat or not to treat.

Thrombocytopenia is common in pregnancy and is diverse in etiology. Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) may affect both mother and the newborn. Gestational (incidental) thrombocytopenia in an otherwise fit woman, at term is the most frequent type of thrombocytopenia and poses no clinical consequences for mother or infant.

Fetal and embryonic hemoglobins in erythroblasts from fetal blood and fetal cells enriched from maternal blood in pregnancies complicated by maternal diabetes mellitus.

Objectives: To determine whether there is a delay or reversal in switch mechanisms from embryonic (epsilon and zeta) to fetal (gamma) hemoglobins accompanying the erythroblastosis in fetuses of diabetic mothers, and whether the increased erythroblast count in the fetal blood is associated with an increase in fetomaternal cell trafficking.

Materials And Methods: Fetal and maternal blood samples were obtained from 11 fetuses and five pregnant women in pregnancies complicated by maternal diabetes mellitus. Blood samples were also taken as controls from 35 fetuses and 33 mothers.

Fetal erythroblasts in maternal blood in relation to gestational age.

Objectives: To determine the distribution of fetal erythroblasts in the maternal circulation at different gestations.

Materials And Methods: Maternal blood was obtained from 152 normal singleton pregnancies at 11-40 weeks of gestation. Fetal erythroblasts were isolated using triple density gradient separation and anti-CD71 magnetic cell sorting techniques.

Assessment of efficacy of cell separation techniques used in the enrichment of foetal erythroblasts from maternal blood: triple density gradient vs. single density gradient.

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of cell separation with single density and triple density-gradient techniques in the yield of foetal erythroblasts isolated from maternal blood. Maternal blood was obtained from 20 singleton pregnancies at 11-14 weeks of gestation immediately before foetal karyotyping by chorionic villus sampling. In each woman, the blood sample was divided into two portions; one portion was used for single density-gradient separation and the other, for triple density-gradient separation.