Kaolin-correctable prolongation of the activated partial thromboplastin time.

Seven patients who had normal prothrombin times but prolonged activated partial thromboplastin times (aPTT) are described. The prolonged aPTT, obtained with micronized silica as the contact activating agent in a semi-automated optical end-point system, a nonautomated optical end-point system, and a conductivity end-point system, corrected to normal when kaolin was used as the contact activating agent. Abnormal results were also obtained with celite and ellagic acid as contact activating agents. The activities of various clotting factors were within normal limits in all cases where they were assayed. The thromboplastin dilution test was uniformly negative, and mixtures of one patient's plasma with that of another patient failed to correct the abnormal aPTT. No patients had a personal or family history of bleeding, and all underwent surgery without bleeding difficulties. This pattern of a prolonged aPTT that corrects to normal when kaolin is used as the contact activator appears to represent a previously unrecognized laboratory phenomenon.