Siemens Healthcare launches Innovance Antithrombin test in Europe
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics has launched its Innovance Antithrombin test for the first time, throughout Europe. The test detects inherited or acquired antithrombin deficiency – antithrombin inactivates thrombin, a protein that promotes coagulation, so deficient patients have an increased risk of blood clots. Acquired antithrombin deficiency can be caused by several factors including liver disease, renal failure or major surgery. Siemens (Erlangen, Germany) claims the test takes less than four minutes to carry out. It is based on a chromogenic measurement principle: a plasma sample is reacted with a substrate, and the higher the quantity of uninhibited coagulation factor Xa (and therefore the lower the concentration of antithrombin), the more vivid the colour produced.