THE ACTIVATED COAGULATION TIME (ACT) - 2 SIMPLE SCREENING-TESTS FOR EVALUATING COAGULATION DISORDERS IN DOGS

The use of the activated coagulation time (ACT) for testing the intrin sic coagulation is well established among veterinary practitioners in the USA. The advantage of the ACT compared to other coagulation tests is its ease to be performed under practice conditions, The ACT may be measured manually or instrumentally. The reference range of our instru mental measurement is between 90 and 120 seconds (median 105 seconds), of the manual measurement at room temperature between 115 and 145 sec onds (median 125 seconds). Advantages of the instrumental method are t he smaller amount of blood (0.4 ml versus 2.0 ml) necessary to perform the test, and the smaller potential for errors by unexperienced exami ners. The spread is comparable between the two methods, The most impor tant cause of false results is poor venipuncture technique: traumatic venipuncture will trigger the coagulation cascade already during venip uncture causing an arteficially shortened ACT.