Provided is a method of accurately and easily determining a cause of the
prolongation of
blood coagulation time.The method of determining a cause of the
prolongation of
blood coagulation time in test
plasma includes (1) measuring the
blood coagulation time of samples including (a) the test
plasma only, (b) normal
plasma only, and (c) the test plasma and the normal plasma mixed at least at a
mixing ratio, (2) drawing a
polygonal line graph by plotting the measurement results of the samples (a), (b) and (c), with the
vertical axis representing the blood
coagulation time or the
prolongation ratio of blood
coagulation time and the
horizontal axis representing the
mixing ratio or mixing proportion of the test plasma or the normal plasma, and thereby determining the area A under the
polygonal line and the area B under a
line segment that connects the plotted measurement results of the samples (a) and (b), (3) calculating the ratio of the area (A−B) obtained by subtracting the area B from the area A, with respect to the area B, ((A−B) / (B)):
area ratio X), (4) performing the steps of (1) and (2) for a coagulation factor inhibitor-positive plasma, and thereby determining in advance a standard
area ratio Y, and (5) comparing the
area ratio X and the standard area ratio Y, and determining the test plasma as a coagulation factor inhibitor type in the case where Y≦X, or as a coagulation factor deficient type in the case where Y>X.