Physiology of hemostasis: with relevance to current and future laboratory testing.

This article briefly details the physiologic and interdependent mechanisms of vascular hemostasis, with an eye toward how the laboratory can assist in diagnosing and maintaining the balance of procoagulant and anticoagulant functions. These functions include determining characteristics of the blood vessel wall, platelet components and receptor-ligand interactions critical for hemostasis, the regulation of thrombin generation and its effects, and the complex fibrinolytic pathways that complete the coagulation cascade.