Fibrinolysis and proteolysis in patients with lymphoma

Abstract

Fibrinolytic (activator) and proteolytic (plasmin) activities were studied in 125 patients with lymphoma. An overall increase in fibrinolytic activity was found in 20% of patients with Hodgkin''s disease, in 21% of those with lymphosarcoma, and in 17.6% of cases with reticulum cell sarcoma. Hyperfibrinolysis was found to be more frequent among patients with hemorrhagic manifestations (27%) as compared with those without bleeding (18.2%) and in untreated patients (33%) as compared with treated ones (17.7%). In both these instances the difference was not statistically significant. The presence of fever and the clinical status of the patients showed no influence at all on the behavior of blood fibrinolysis. No proteolytic activity was found in any patient investigated.