DILUTE WHOLE-BLOOD CLOT LYSIS ASSAY - SCREENING METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING POST-OPERATIVE PATIENTS WITH A HIGH INCIDENCE OF DEEP VENOUS THROMBOSIS

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 93  (1) , 120-127
Abstract
A dilute whole blood clot lysis assay was used to identify patients with a high incidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Of 191 orthopedic and urologic patients who underwent surgery, the over-all incidence of DVT determined by 125I-fibrinogen leg scan was 35% in 92 individuals with abnormal assays and 1% in 99 patients with normal assays. The likelihood that an individual patient might have developed DVT increased progressively with the number of abnormal assays (P < 0.001). DVT incidence increased from 28% in patients with 1 abnormal assay to 35% in patients with 2 abnormal assays, to 56% in patients with 3 abnormal assays. The clot lysis assay is a simple means to screen for patients with a high incidence of DVT. A normal assay can eliminate patients from consideration for more extensive studies (venography, fibronogen scan, impedance plethysmography) and those patients with 1 or more abnormal assays should be seriously considered for these additional studies.