Coagulation cascade
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Related to Coagulation cascade: Coagulation factors
cascade
[kas-kād´]a series of steps or stages (as of a physiological process) that, once initiated, continues to the final step because each step is triggered by the preceding one, resulting in amplification of the signal, information, or effect at each stage. In electronics, the term is applied to multiple amplifiers. Examples in biochemistry include blood coagulation and the complement system.
coagulation cascade the series of steps beginning with activation of the intrinsic or extrinsic pathways of coagulation, or of one of the related alternative pathways, and proceeding through the common pathway of coagulation to the formation of the fibrin clot. 

The coagulation cascade. This scheme emphasizes the understanding of 1, the importance of the tissue factor pathway in initiating clotting in vivo; 2, the interactions between pathways; and 3, the pivotal role of thrombin in sustaining the cascade by feedback activation of coagulation factors. HMWK = high-molecular-weight kininogen; PK = prekallikrein; PL = phospholipid; PT = prothrombin; TF = tissue factor; Th = thrombin. From Schafer, 1994.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
Coagulation cascade
The sequence of biochemical activities, involving clotting factors, that stop bleeding by forming a clot.
Mentioned in: Fibrin Split Products, Partial Thromboplastin Time
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.