Edit page | Page history | Printable version

anticoagulant

(Science: haematology, pharmacology) Any substance that prevents blood clotting.

Those drugs administered for prophylaxis or treatment of thromboembolic disorders are heparin, which inactivates thrombin and several other clotting factors and which must be administered parenterally and the oral anticoagulants (warfarin, dicumarol and congeners) which inhibit the hepatic synthesis of vitamin k dependent clotting factors.

Anticoagulant solutions used for the preservation of stored whole blood and blood fractions are acid citrate dextrose (ACD), citrate phosphate dextrose (CPD), citrate phosphate dextrose adenine (cPDA 1) and heparin.

anticoagulants used to prevent clotting of blood specimens for laboratory analysis are heparin and several substances that make calcium ions unavailable to the clotting process, including edta (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), citrate, oxalate and fluoride.