Laboratory Center, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin, China

It has been reported that there are some differences in the early stage of the autofibrinolysis of microthrombotic clots among patients with cerebrovascular disease (CVD). It may reflect the human global fibrinolytic capacity (Curewich V et al, 1988). We designed a way of differentiation to evaluate global fibrinolytic capacity by imitating the human fibrinolytic system activation pathway in vitro. The global fibrinolytic capacity can be determined by detecting the degradation product D-dimer as a result of fibrinolysis.

The global fibrinolytic capacity is classified into 5 grades; Grade 0 - Grade 4. Grade 4 represents a full fibrinolytic capacity, and Grade 0 represents a low fibrinolytic capacity. We compared the global fibrinolytic capacity between 40 healthy elders (60 - 91 years of age, mean 70.28) and 27 adolescents (23 - 45 years of age, mean 35.61). The result signified that global fibrinolytic capacity in the elders was lowered (p<0.005). Among the preventive detections of risk factors for CVD in healthy cohorts, the lowered global fibrinolytic capacity would be one of the valuable and important factors.