Antiplasmin Levels After Surgery: The Failure of α2 Antiplasmin Rise in Patients With Venous Thrombosis

Levels of antiproteases have been determined before and after surgery in twenty-five gynaecological patients by rocket immunoelectrophoresis using specific antisera. The patients who developed deep vein thrombosis during the first post - operative week were identified by screening all patients with the 125I fibrinogen scan. α2 antiplasmin rose post-operatively in all fifteen patients who did not develop thrombosis. This rise was not modified patients receiving low-dose heparin. In the patients who developed positive fibrinogen scans no rise in α2 antiplasmin occurred and on the second post-operative day levels in these patients were significantly lower than in the fifteen patients whose scans remained negative in contrast, α2 macroglobulin tended to fall post-operatively but this change was only significant in the thrombotic group. α1 antitrypsin levels rose significantly in both thrombotic and non-thrombotic groups after operation. Plasmin-α2 antiplasmin complexes were not found in the thrombotic patients so that consumption of α2 antiplasmin does not explain tne lower levels observed.