THROMBIN-ANTITHROMBIN-III COMPLEXES AS AN ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSTIC-AID IN PULMONARY-EMBOLISM

Plasma levels of selected coagulation and fibrinolytic parameters (act ivated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, fibrinogen, anti thrombin III, protein C, thrombin-antithrombin III complexes (TAT), pl asminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), plasminogen, alpha(2)-plasmin inhibitor) were evaluated in 90 patients with clinical suspicion of p ulmonary embolism (PE). Plasma levels of fibrinogen, PAI-1 and TAT wer e significantly higher in patients than in controls (p < 0.01): evalua tion of TAT displayed a sensitivity of 96.1% and specificity of 30.8%, and positive and negative predictive values of 64.5 and 85.7%, respec tively. The number of nonperfused lung segments correlated directly wi th TAT levels (p < 0.01) and inversely with arterial pO(2) values (p < 0.01). No significant difference was found in the other parameters be tween patients and controls. Our results suggest that the finding of n ormal TAT plasma levels can help to exclude PE in patients with clinic ally suspected PE.