36-year-old male with X-linked congenital sideroblastic anemia presenting as chronic microcytic anemia with iron overload

Molecular diagnosis of hereditary hemolytic anemias: Recent updates

Hereditary hemolytic anemia (HHA) is a heterogeneous group of disorders due to genetically caused defects in red blood cell membrane structure, enzymes, heme and globin synthesis, erythroid proliferation, and differentiation. Traditionally, the diagnostic process is complex and includes a plethora of tests from routine to highly specialized ones. The inclusion of molecular testing has significantly improved the diagnostic yield. The value of molecular testing is broader than just rendering the correct diagnosis, as it may also guide therapeutic decisions. As more molecular modalities become available for clinical use, it is imperative to understand their benefits and disadvantages pertaining to the HHA diagnostics. Re-evaluation of the traditional diagnostic workflow may also bring forth additional benefits. This review focuses on the current state of molecular testing for HHA.

Overall haemostatic potential (OHP) assay can risk stratify for venous thromboembolism recurrence in anticoagulated patients

Assessing the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), particularly when patients are anticoagulated, remains a major challenge largely due to the lack of biomarkers. Blood was sampled from adult VTE patients recruited between January 2018 and September 2020, while receiving therapeutic anticoagulation. Results were compared to 144 healthy subjects (34.7% male, median age 42 years). Overall haemostatic potential (OHP) assay, a spectrophotometric assay, was performed on platelet-poor plasma, in which fibrin formation (triggered by small amounts of thrombin (overall coagulation potential, OCP)) and fibrinolysis (by the addition of thrombin and tissue plasminogen activator (OHP)) are simultaneously measured. Results were obtained from 196 patients (52.6% male, mean age 57.1 years). Compared to healthy subjects, VTE patients displayed significantly higher OCP (39.6 vs 34.5 units, p < 0.001) and OHP (9.3 vs 6.4 units, p < 0.001) as well as lower overall fibrinolytic potential (75.6 v s81.1%, p < 0.001). All 16 VTE recurrences, including 11 unprovoked, occurred above an OCP cut-off of 40^th percentile (recurrence rate 4.32/100 patient-years (100PY), 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.39-7.80, p = 0.002). Of 97 patients who subsequently discontinued anticoagulation, all unprovoked VTE recurrences (n = 9) occurred above the 40^th OCP percentile (recurrence rate 9.10/100PY, 95% CI 4.74-17.49, p = 0.005) and the 40^th OHP percentile (recurrence rate 8.46/100PY, 95% CI 4.40-16.25, p = 0.009). Our pilot study demonstrates that the OHP assay can detect a hypercoagulable and hypofibrinolytic state in anticoagulated VTE patients and may be able to risk stratify VTE recurrence, allowing for more individualised decision on long-term anticoagulation. Further larger prospective studies are required.

Global coagulation assays in hypercoagulable states

Thrombosis is one of the major global causes of morbidity and mortality, and predicting the risk of thrombotic and cardiovascular complications remains one of the key challenges in modern medicine. Conventional coagulation testing does not provide sufficient information, primarily because they measure the time to start of blood clotting and do not evaluate total thrombin generation. Possible adjunctive tools that may be helpful are global coagulation assays, which includes the assessment of the final products of the coagulation cascade, namely thrombin and fibrin. Whilst these assays have been more widely investigated in bleeding states, their role in thrombotic disorders is less established. We have previously investigated the use of assays such as thromboelastography, calibrated automated thrombogram and overall haemostatic potential assay in several hypercoagulable states including cardiovascular disease, haematological disorders and influence of hormone status as well as healthy controls. We provide a review of the use and limitations of global coagulation assays in healthy controls as well as hypercoagulable conditions.