The CLUE test. A multiparameter coagulation and fibrinolysis screening test using the platelet aggregometer.

Optical density measurements of plasma clot formation and lysis were recorded using a platelet aggregometer and strip chart recorder. It was discovered that, by adding standard solutions of ellagic acid-activated partial thromboplastin, urokinase, and CaCl2, and monitoring the reaction via the recorder, characteristic curves would be generated by normal human plasma. The curve segments were labeled Tc (clotting time), which correlated with the activated partial thromboplastin time, Fc (maximum optical density change), which paralleled fibrinogen concentration, and Tl (lysis time), which corresponded generally to plasminogen levels. Deviations from normal curve segments, observed in disseminated intravascular coagulation, hypo- and hyperfibrinogenemia, factor VIII deficiency, severe hepatocellular disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and neonates (normally low in plasminogen), indicated abnormalities which were substantiated by standard procedures. This new test, given the acronym "CLUE" for clotting and lysis, urokinase enzyme activated, appears to be sensitive, inexpensive and easily performed on a sample of 0.2 ml. of plasma in only 15 minutes.