Testing Guidelines

The following are guidelines, and each patient's unique circumstances should be evaluated, and if needed, the following modified as deemed appropriate by the clinical team. Therapeutic monitoring may be needed on certain patient populations receiving anti-coagulation therapy. PT/INR is available within our core lab for patients on vitamin K antagonists (e.g. warfarin). UF-Hep (anti-Xa) is available within our core lab for patients on heparin drip; please follow nomogram in PowerChart. If results exceed 2 IU/mL, patients need to be monitored via aPTT as the presence of a direct Xa inhibitor is possible. Please follow nomogram in PowerChart. Monitoring may also be needed for certain patient populations on LMW heparin including patients with renal insufficiency, pregnant patients, newborns, and markedly obese or underweight patients. Most patients on direct thrombin inhibitors and anti-Xa inhibitors do not need routine monitoring. However, testing at our reference laboratory is available for certain patients on direct thrombin inhibitors and direct Xa inhibitors. Please note anticoagulation therapy may interfere with coagulation testing. Please contact the medical director of hematology if there are any questions regarding appropriate test utilization.