Venous thrombosis affects one in one thousand people each year, and in many countries, it is a major cause of morbidity and death in hospitalised patients. Factor V Leiden and the prothrombin c.20210G>A transition are relatively common in the Western World, and both increase the risk of venous thrombosis. The author describes the detection of t+++hese two genetic variants on the carousel-based Roche LightCycler� . This simple method has high sensitivity for DNA, making it possible to test blood samples without the need for traditional DNA extraction and purification.