Coagulation
Coagulation laboratory tests
Thrombin time
Author: Jeremy C. Parsons, M.D.
Last author update: 1 November 2012
Last staff update: 23 September 2020
Copyright: 2002-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Thrombin time [title]
Table of Contents
Definition / generalCite this page: Parsons JC. Thrombin time. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/coagulationthrombintime.html. Accessed December 2nd, 2024.
Definition / general
- Measures rate of fibrin clot formation after addition of standard concentration of thrombin to citrated plasma (Key, Makris, O'Shaughnessy and Lillicrap (Eds): Practical Hemostasis and Thrombosis, 2nd Edition, 2009 (Page 53))
- Thrombin cleaves fibrinogen, releasing fibrinopeptides A and B, converting fibrinogen to fibrin
- Useful to diagnose dysfibrinogenemia after more common disorders are excluded
- Reference range: 10 - 13 or 16 - 24 seconds, depending on reaction conditions and thrombin concentration
- Prolonged if even small amounts of heparin, hirudin or argatroban anticoagulants are present
- Also prolonged with dysfibrinogenemia, amyloidosis (inhibits fibrinogen conversion to fibrin), DIC, thrombolytic therapy or thrombin inhibitors in patients exposed to bovine thrombin
