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Bethesda Units measure how well an antibody can inhibit blood clotting factors, which is important for people with hemophilia who may develop antibodies that worsen their symptoms. The unit is defined as the amount of antibody that can block half the activity of a clotting factor for two hours at 37°C.
Physicians sometimes assign names like “Bethesda Units” to certain measures of biological activity. In this case, the Bethesda units are measurements of how well an antibody is able to inhibit a blood clotting factor. People who have a medical condition called hemophilia, which results from an inability to clot blood properly, require medical attention to help control the bleeding. Some people with this disease develop antibody molecules that block circulating blood clotting factors and worsen disease symptoms. A Bethesda unit is a measure of how much of a patient’s antibody can block half the activity of a blood factor in half an hour at 37°C.
Blood clotting factors are a group of molecules that are produced by healthy people and circulate in the bloodstream. When the person suffers a cut or starts bleeding, internally or externally, blood clotting factors work together to signal the body to patch up where the blood is crossing and stop the bleeding. People who have hemophilia have genetic problems creating a healthy level of blood factors and therefore experience problems such as uncontrolled bleeding.
Modern medicine can treat these patients with synthetic forms of blood clotting factors and other drugs that help normal blood clotting. Additionally, people with hemophilia may have some level of blood clotting factors that move naturally in the body. Some people with this condition, however, may develop antibodies to factors that can make hemophilia more dangerous, even if it’s being treated. An antibody is a molecule produced by the immune system and capable of recognizing certain substances. Once it recognizes the substance, it tells the immune system to attempt to destroy or otherwise remove it.
The reason the body develops these antibodies is unknown, but they act to block the action of clotting factors, thereby decreasing the haemophiliac patient’s ability to stop bleeding after injury. It is important for a doctor to know if a patient has developed antibodies. He also needs to know how strong the effect of the antibodies is on blocking clotting factors.
Measuring this can help doctors figure out which medications can help improve a patient’s symptoms. All measurements require standard units and the Bethesda unit is the unit in which to measure it. The Bethesda unit is defined as the amount of antibody that can block half the activity of a clotting factor for two hours at 37° Celsius.
Typically, this is measured by mixing the plasma component of a patient’s blood and a healthy person’s plasma in a 50:50 ratio. After the two hours have elapsed, the blood clotting factor levels in the sample are compared to a control sample that contains only healthy plasma and therefore a normal clotting factor level with no antibodies. The result is then converted to Bethesda units by placing it on a chart that contains known comparison values.
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