Bio/Data Targets Sticky Platelet Testing.

HORSHAM, Pa. -- Sticky platelets. They're a menace.

"Sticky platelets are the equivalent of a cocked gun being held to your head," said William M. Trolio, Vice President of Bio/Data Corporation, Horsham-based manufacturer, seller and distributor of hemostasis and platelet function medical laboratory products. "Scientists and clinicians around the world are focusing on sticky platelets and the problems they cause."

When platelets unnecessarily stick together - or aggregate, as it's called in medical laboratories - they turn into relentless stalkers, ganging up on a vulnerable artery or vein to constrict it from the inside. These clumps of platelets cause blood clots, which result in heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary emboli and deep-vein thromboses.

Three conditions determine when platelets turn lethal, Trolio noted. They are: 1) genetics, 2) an enabling event (usually severe stress) and 3) risk factors, such as smoking or an unhealthy diet. "Put those all together, and the cocked gun discharges," he said.

Sticky platelet syndrome ("SPS"), which is inherited, was first recognized during a 1983 international conference on stroke and cerebral circulation when 10 young stroke patients were identified with the condition. Subsequently, little reportable testing has occurred about the interrelationship of sticky platelets and blood clots.

Dr. Rodger L. Bick (University of Texas' Southwestern Medical Center) is one of the exceptions. Over a two-year period prior to 1997, he evaluated 153 patients at the Dallas Thrombosis Hemostasis Clinical Center, Presbyterian Hospital. His findings "strongly suggest SPS to be a common cause of arterial and venous thromboses and a workup for SPS should be considered a routine assay in the workup of individuals with otherwise unexplained arterial or venous thrombotic events. Because treatment with ... simple aspirin therapy almost always will correct the defect and protect the individual from second events, it is particularly important to define the presence of this defect."

In 1998 Dr. Bick discovered that, in a study group of 118 women who suffered recurring miscarriages, over 16 percent had sticky platelet syndrome. Next month (April 2006), Cambridge University Press releases Dr. Bick's Hematological Complications in Obstetrics, Pregnancy, and Gynecology, described as "the first comprehensive reference on all hematological complications of obstetrics, pregnancy and gynecology."

"Over the years, we at Bio/Data have admired Dr. Bick's foresight for insisting upon a correlation between sticky platelets and blood clots," Trolio said. "Effective drug therapy is readily available, but we need comprehensive studies under controlled laboratory conditions. Sticky platelets should be diagnosed and treated before they kill."

Bio/Data Corporation's flagship product is the PAP-8E Platelet Aggregation Profiler(R), an impressive laboratory instrument utilized for testing platelet function. Test results provide a vital pathway enabling medical professionals to diagnose various stages of hemostasis disorders, including von Willebrand Disease, hemophilia and Glanzmann's disease, or to monitor the use of antiplatelet drugs like Plavix(R) and aspirin. Other Bio/Data products consist of reagents and disposables to augment the variety of platelet testing.

Bio/Data's web address is www.biodatacorp.com. The company is ISO 9001:2000 registered, and all its aggregation products are CE marked.

Free copies of Bio/Data's sticky platelet laboratory test procedures are available by calling the company's U.S. toll-free number at 800-257-3282.