Study of the formation of fibrin clot in cirrhotic patients. An approach to study of acquired dysfibrinogenemia.

Alterations in the coagulation system are common in patients with liver disease. We have examined the importance of the species and chains of fibrinogen in 3 groups of cirrhotic patients. The study of the gelation of fibrinogen in cirrhotic patients shows that the lag time increases in 80.3% of them and that the maximum gelation rate is altered in 51% of these plasmas. Also it is observed that 80% of the plasmas from cirrhotic patients have a percentage (23.3 +/- 7.7%) of unpolymerized alpha chain, after highly cross-linked fibrin formation. These alterations, in lag time and in the maximum gelation rate, have no significant correlation with the situation of the fibrinolytic system in these patients. The study of isolated fibrinogen from cirrhotic patients and normal subjects plasma, shows that there are no objective alterations in the percentage of fibrinogen species, the amount of sialic acid or the ratio of polypeptide chains.