What does a PT result of 73.1 mean?

Answer 1

Prothrombin Time is a measure of how quickly a sample of blood coagulates. It is used to determine the quantity of clotting factors in the blood, and their ability to do their job, which is to form clots.

It's difficult to determine what a "result of 73.1" means, because PT levels are given either as a time (normal levels are 11.0-12.5 seconds) or a percentage (normal values 85%-100%), and it isn't clear which one of those 73.1 is.

If it is a time, 73.1 is a critically high value, and indicates a deficiency of clotting factors that could lead to widespread systemic bleeding.

Much more likely, it is a percentage, and is a little low. This means that the blood in this sample takes slightly longer to coagulate than average, which can be caused by a number of factors, including liver disease, anticoagulant therapy, or something as simple as having taken an aspirin on the day of the test.