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Thromb Haemost 1976; 36(01): 140-149
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1648018
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

The Effect of Defibrinogenation on Pulmonary Embolism in Dogs

Alfred G. Meissner   *
1   Department of Surgery and the Surgical-Medical Research Institute, The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada T6G 2N8
,
Gerald O’Sullivan
1   Department of Surgery and the Surgical-Medical Research Institute, The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada T6G 2N8
,
Robert A. Macbeth
1   Department of Surgery and the Surgical-Medical Research Institute, The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada T6G 2N8
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 25 July 1975

Accepted 12 January 1976

Publication Date:
03 July 2018 (online)

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Summary

The role of fibrinogen in the pathophysiology of pulmonary embolism is not clearly understood. A study was therefore performed in order to determine the effect of defibrinogenation on the sequelae of experimental pulmonary embolization in the canine model. Total defibrinogenation was achieved by treating 15 dogs with Defibrase over a period of three days, and these were studied and compared with 15 control animals. The embolus was produced by injection of a homologous clot into the superior vena cava. A 27 per cent mortality rate was observed after embolism in the control group, but there were no deaths in the Defibrase-treated animals. Hemodynamic and pulmonary gas exchange disturbances occuring in the control group were more severe than those in the treated group and were associated with marked fibrinogen consumption. It is suggested, therefore, that defibrinogenation reduces the mortality and severity of the pathophysiological changes associated with pulmonary embolization probably by inhibition of pulmonary intravascular coagulation and by changing the rheological properties of the blood.

* Present address to which reprint requests should be sent: Institute of Haematology, Department of Surgery, Chocimska 5, Warsaw, Poland.


 

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