Hemostasis: Factors that matter

The goal of this thesis is to explore some of the essential ‘factors that matter’ in hemostasis. Adequate hemostasis transforms liquid blood to a solid clot to prevent blood loss when vessel injury occurs. It requires the combined and regulated activity of endothelial, platelet and coagulation factors. In healthy individuals, these factors maintain a delicate balance between the production and dissolution of a blood clot. A disruption of this balance, caused by a defect or deficiency of one of the essential hemostatic factors, may result in severe clinical complications such as bleeding or thrombosis. To gain further insight in some of these factors, we have performed studies using different resources and techniques, ranging from mass spectrometry to questionnaire based projects.