Question 30.3

A 50-year-old patient with a right deep vein thrombosis and haemoptysis. These blood results are from admission:

Parameter

Patient

Reference

PT

12 seconds

12 – 14

APTT*

69 seconds

34 – 38

Thrombin time

16 seconds

14 – 18

APTT mixing test      

60 seconds       

Explain the APTT mixing test and outline its significance in this patient (3 marks)

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College comments

Syllabus topic/section: 2.1.11 Haematological and Oncological Intensive Care 

Discussion: 

This was a repeat question and so a higher standard of performance was required. Poorly performing candidates frequently gave an incorrect interpretation for section 30.2 and/or failed to explain the mixing test in section 30.3. The relevance of normal tests in the questions were often misinterpreted or missed in the explanations candidates provided.

Interpretation

References