Hemostasis and Thrombosis Protocols

Hemostasis and Thrombosis Protocols
Edited by David J. Perry and K. John Pasi
Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, 1999; 368 pages

This book is a collection of protocols for molecular diagnosis of diseases of hemostasis and thrombosis. Although it contains some theory, it is primarily a hands-on manual for the laboratory scientist struggling to confirm a diagnostic entity with a specific gene representation. Unlike other books, it has barely any background information about hemostasis, thrombosis, or clotting abnormalities. Rather it is a straightforward, no-nonsense manual to laboratory procedures for gene diagnosis of blood and clotting disorders.

It is divided into five parts. The first part relates to a review of hemostasis, with a surprisingly superficial analysis of the interplay of the coagulation, vessel wall, circulating anticoagulant and fibrinolytic systems. Part II relates to basic techniques such as isolation of DNA and RNA, while part III relates to methods of mutational analysis such as SSCP and gel electrophoresis methods. Part I relates to specific coagulation diseases and part V focuses on platelet and megakarycotye analysis.

The book is not a reference and is not all-inclusive. Nor is it for the practicing or academic physician, or fledgling medical student or house resident. The sections on hemostasis gloss over vascular biology, anticoagulant pathways and fibrinolytic pathways. References are primarily from the early 1990s with few more recent references despite the enormous changes month by month in this field. There are very few diagrams or photos to help visualize concepts. However, the protocols are helpful and would help a hemostasis laboratory move from a functional lab of the past to a molecular lab of the future.

Although not for the practicing physician, it could be very valuable for the laboratory staff in charge of gene analysis of known genetic defects in known diseases of hemostasis and thrombosis.

Reviewed for Bloodline by:
Paulette Mehta, MD
Professor, Hematology-Oncology, University of Arkansas
Chief, Hematology-Oncology, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
Little Rock, Arkansas

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