The bleeding patient.

The author has commented on the more frequently encountered acquired haemostatic defects and briefly outlined the relevant routine laboratory investigations that should be performed and their clinical significance. It is important that any replacement therapy with plasma, coagulation factor preparations and concentrates, and platelet infusions should be given promptly and their effectiveness assessed at regular intervals (Urbaniak and Cash, 1977). One's approach to the bleeding patient should be a combination of clinical assessment and interpretation of laboratory data, thus allowing an effective flexible policy to be followed.