PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - E M Haselager
AU  - J Vreeken
TI  - Clinical significance of "circulating fibrin monomers'.
AID  - 10.1136/jcp.34.5.468
DP  - 1981 May 01
TA  - Journal of Clinical Pathology
PG  - 468--472
VI  - 34
IP  - 5
4099  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/34/5/468.short
4100  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/34/5/468.full
SO  - J Clin Pathol1981 May 01; 34
AB  - During the decade 1970-9 we investigated circulating fibrin monomers in 3293 patients. Fibrinaemia was determined by means of the ethanol gelation test (EGT). This was positive in 149 patients (4.5%) and was highly correlated with fibrogenal fibrin products. In many diseases the test was only transiently positive (1 or 2 days). However in patients with circulating fibrin monomers, demonstrable for more than 5 days (chronic fibrinaemia) malignant disease was associated in 63%. Chronic fibrinaemia occasionally preceded overt malignancy by a long period. Overall, only 10.8% of patients with malignant disease showed chronic fibrinaemia. The clinical symptoms most often associated with chronic fibrinaemia were those of venous thrombosis (42.8%) and abnormal bleeding (10.7%). Thromboembolism in the absence of malignant disease only occasionally showed short-term positive EGT and chronic fibrinaemia was never seen. Almost half (46.5%) of patients with chronic fibrinaemia had neither thromboembolic disease nor a haemorrhagic diathesis.