What Are the Causes of Elevated Ptt?

The partial thromboplastin time test, or PTT test, is a blood test that measures the length of time that a patient’s blood takes to clot. Doctors may order this test for patients with bleeding or clotting disorders.

Digestive System

• Elevated PTT results may be caused by malabsorption, a digestive problem that restricts the amount of nutrients that the body absorbs from food, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Vitamin Deficiency

• People with a vitamin K deficiency may notice that their blood takes longer to clot and they may have higher PTT test readings.

Hemophilia

• Hemophilia patients with hemophilia A or hemophilia B can experience excessive bleeding and difficulty with blood clotting that cause a high result on the partial thromboplastin time test.

Other Causes

• Elevated PTT test results can result from cirrhosis, disseminated intravascular coagulation or a deficiency in a protein related to blood clotting called factor XII. People who take blood-thinning medications and patients with hypofibrinogenemia or von Willebrand’s disease may have elevated results on this medical test.

Normal PTT

• Patients with a normal PTT test result will take 25 to 35 seconds for their blood to clot.