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Dear Colleagues, I come back to a pseudothrombocytopenia-related discussion we had earlier on this list. This time, we have a patient whose platelets time-dependently drop in tubes containing either EDTA, citrate or heparin. We tried to count his platelets in a self-made blood collection tube containing magnesium sulphate and (surprisingly) we were able to measure his true platelet count (smears from this sample demonstrated no clumping). It was funny for me to learn from a German textbook written in 1933 that magnesium sulphate has been used at that time for prevention of platelet agglutination when Fonio platelet counts were performed. In certain circumstances we obviously need to go back to the roots ... Back to our patient: Has anybody came across a situation like ours of combined pseudothrombocytopenia? Sincerely, Dr. med. Michael Steiner University of Rostock Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry Ernst-Heydemann-Str. 6 D-18057 Rostock GERMANY %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%