We report a case of Weil's disease manifesting elevation of plasma D-dimer in the acute phase. Later, in the convalescent phase after treatment, the plasma levels of D-dimer returned to normal. Plasma D-dimer can be used as a marker of fibrin formation and degradation. Based on our observations, we conjecture that fibrin formation and fibrinolysis may occur in the acute phase of Weil's disease.

Introduction A new test for determination of circulating fibrin degradation products has recently been marketed in the U.S. Known genericaUy as the D-dimer assay, it is a direct latex agglutination assay employing monoclonal anubody specific for digestion products of crosslinked fibrin. It is offered as an alternative to or replacement for the widely available Thrombo-Wellcotest assay for fibri...

BACKGROUND We sought to determine the efficacy of sutures, human fibrin glue and N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate for mesh fixation in patients undergoing the plug and mesh procedure for groin hernia. METHODS A total of 156 patients with 167 inguinal hernias (11 bilateral) underwent a plug and mesh procedure and were randomly assigned to received either sutures (n = 59 hernias), human fibrin glue (n =...

The 31-kDa domain of human plasma fibronectin has been completely characterized. This fragment is located at the COOH-terminal end of the molecule immediately preceding the 3-kDa interchain disulfidecontaining peptide. The 31-kDa domain was obtained after trypsin digestion of fibronectin and purified by affinity chromatography on gelatin and heparinSepharose columns. The fragment eluted in th...

An 81-year-old woman, who presented with sudden episodes of spontaneous bleeding, was found to have a specific inhibitor of factor XIII. Her fibrin clots had approximately 70% gamma-gamma and no alpha polymer formation, under conditions where normal fibrin was fully cross-linked; the patient's clots were soluble in urea or monochloroacetic acid. Factor XIII activity in her plasma was 24%, measu...

Immunohistochemical studies of human atherosclerotic lesions have demonstrated the occurrence of fibrin deposition and its degradation in the arterial wall. We studied fibrinogen, the generation of thrombin, and the degradation of fibrin in 40 patients with stable peripheral arterial occlusive disease of varying severity, as assessed by the ankle/brachial pressure index and duplex ultrasonograp...

By A. E. D R AND D. Ku ui A GROWING INTEREST in fibrinolytic agents has given rise to a variety of methods for assessing the activity of such agents in vitro. The fibrin plate assay1 is a useful technic employing the natural substrate. Other methods,2 using formed fibrin clots, have also been devised, as well as technics employing other substrates such as casein. The purpose of this study was t...

The N-terminal heparin/fibrin binding domain of human plasma fibronectin (pFN) contains a cryptic proteinase. The enzyme could be generated and activated in the presence of Ca2+ from the purified 70 kDa pFN fragment produced by cathepsin D digestion of pFN. In this work we cloned and expressed the serine proteinase, designated fibronectinase (Fnase), in E. coli. The recombinant pFN protein frag...

By A. E. D R AND D. Ku ui A GROWING INTEREST in fibrinolytic agents has given rise to a variety of methods for assessing the activity of such agents in vitro. The fibrin plate assay1 is a useful technic employing the natural substrate. Other methods,2 using formed fibrin clots, have also been devised, as well as technics employing other substrates such as casein. The purpose of this study was t...