BACKGROUND Clinical spectrum, microbiology and outcome of empyema thoracis are changing. Intrapleural instillation of fibrinolytic agents is being increasingly used for management of empyema thoracis. The present study was carried out to describe the clinical profile and outcome of patients with empyema thoracis including those with chronic empyema and to study the efficacy and safety of intrap...

BACKGROUND The effects of alteplase (rtPA), streptokinase, and staphylokinase (rSak) on focal cerebral ischemia (FCI) and on pulmonary clot lysis (PCL) were studied in hamsters. METHODS AND RESULTS ++FCI was produced by ligation of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) and common carotid artery (CCA) and a 10-minute occlusion of the right CCA. FCI was measured after 24 hours by 2,3, 5-triphen...

OBJECTIVES To study the clinical significance of infarct location during long term follow up in a trial comparing thrombolysis with primary angioplasty. DESIGN Retrospective longitudinal cohort analysis of prospectively entered data. SETTING Patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). PATIENTS In the Zwolle ...

The occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias attributed to streptokinase treatment in acute myocardial infarction is not well defined. Holter monitoring was performed for 24 hours in 81 patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction randomised in a ratio of 2:1 to intravenous streptokinase 1.5 x 10(6) IU (n = 55) or placebo infusion (n = 26) 6.7 hours (mean) after the onset of symptoms. No ep...

Methods are described for measuring plasminogen levels in human plasma and for studying plasmin generation in plasma with plasminogen activators. In plasma samples from two individuals with histories of deep vein thrombosis, the functional plasminogen values were determined to be below the normal range of 16.7 to 23.8 mg/lOO ml (average of 21.0 mg/lOO ml), and the plasmin generation rates were ...

Streptokinase is a novel fibrionotic protein produced by several bacterial species. As a therapeutic, streptokinase can be used as thromboembolic disorders where it dissolves a blood clot by the activation of plasminogen to plasmin. In the present study, Bacillus licheniformis used for the production of streptokinase under soya bean as carbon source. The optimum day, pH and temperature were als...

We studied thrombolysis in an animal model of embolic stroke to determine the safety of tissue plasminogen activator and streptokinase. We occluded the middle cerebral arteries of 137 rabbits with radiolabeled blood clots and administered tissue plasminogen activator (n=49), streptokinase («=40), or saline (n=48) at various times after embolization. We assessed the rate of thrombolysis and cere...

We investigated the effect of streptokinase on determination of fibrinogen and related clottable proteins in an effort to assess the relative reliability of these determinations in monitoring patients being treated with streptokinase. Citrated plasma was incubated with and without streptokinase, then assayed for fibrinogen (I), fibrin(ogen) degradation products (II), total clottable protein (II...

BACKGROUND Whether and to what extent complement is activated in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and how it contributes to inflammation of the ischemic area are not yet clear. Fibrinolytic agents used for thrombolysis are known to activate complement in vitro and may contribute to its activation in vivo. The aim of this study was to measure the extent of complement activation in AMI patients,...

A serendipitous discovery by William Smith Tillett in 1933, followed by many years of work with his student Sol Sherry, laid a sound foundation for the use of streptokinase as a thrombolytic agent in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. The drug found initial clinical application in combating fibrinous pleural exudates, hemothorax, and tuberculous meningitis. In 1958, Sherry and others...