Increased erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation in the peripheral venous blood of patients with ischaemic heart disease and an eventful course

Objective - To determine whether increased erythrocyte aggregability has pr ognostic implications in patients with established ischaemic heart disease. Methods and results - We have adopted a simple slide test and image analysi s to reveal the state of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation (EAA) in the peripheral blood of patients with ischaemic heart disease and an eventful c ourse (n=46) as opposed to those with an uneventful (n=43) course. A signif icant correlation was noted between the results of the erythrocyte adhesive ness/aggregation test (EAAT) and either erythrocyte sedimentation or fibrin ogen concentration. When we sampled the results of fibrinogen in the group of eventful course they were not significantly different from the results o btained in the uneventful one,This was the case with the results of the ery throcyte sedimentation rate. However, the variables of the EAAT showed a si gnificant difference, the values in the eventful group being higher than th ose observed in the uneventful one. Conclusions - The EAAT is a valuable tool to disclose the presence of incre ased red blood cell aggregability in patients with ischaemic heart disease. Increased EAA might have prognostic implications in patients with ischaemi c heart disease.