Low Plasminogen Levels and Liver Disease

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The relationship between serum plasminogen levels and liver disease in patients without clinical bleeding disorders was investigated. The clinical history was evaluated, standard liver function tests were performed, and a plasminogen level based on the degradation of NPH insulin was determined. In all cases, low plasminogen levels were associated with abnormal liver function tests. Conversely, 75% of all patients with abnormal liver function studies also had low plasminogen levels. The mechanism involved in the low plasminogen values was not defined. It was demonstrated that plasminogen determinations offer no advantage as a liver function test. The consistent finding of low plasminogen levels associated with a variety of hepatic disorders considerably reduces the diagnostic utility of plasminogen determinations in the evaluation of bleeding disorders.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: