Hirudin, an extract from the leech, has powerful antithrombin activity affe
cting the blood coagulation pathway. We evaluated the usefulness of hirudin
in anticoagulating specimens for routine laboratory tests. Results using b
lood anticoagulated with hirudin corresponded well with results with blood
treated with ethylene-diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) in the complete blood
count (CBC), including white blood cells (WBC) differential count and morp
hology of blood cells, when CBC was performed within 2 h of blood collectio
n. Clinical chemistry results from hirudin-treated samples were similar to
results obtained with serum specimens. Thus, hirudin may be a useful antico
agulant for emergency laboratory medicine.