Elevated serum D dimer: a degradation product of cross-linked fibrin (XDP) after intravenous streptokinase during acute myocardial infarction.

D dimer, a degradation product of cross-linked fibrin, is generated by lysis of fibrin but not by lysis of fibrinogen and can be reliably detected by specific monoclonal antibody techniques. The generation of D dimer after intravenous streptokinase in acute myocardial infarction was studied with the use of a semiquantitative latex agglutination immunoassay. This assay utilizes the monoclonal antibody DD-3B6/22, raised by conventional hybridoma technology, against a highly purified preparation of human D dimer and is adjusted to give a positive agglutination at a D dimer serum concentration of greater than 200 ng/ml (upper limit of normal). Twenty-one patients with acute transmural myocardial infarction of less than 3 hours' duration were studied. Fifteen patients received 0.75 to 1.5 million U intravenous streptokinase and 6 patients were treated conventionally without thrombolytic therapy. An elevated serum level of D dimer was detected before treatment in only 1 of 15 patients receiving intravenous streptokinase and within 2 hours of treatment in the remaining 14 patients who received streptokinase. In contrast, an elevated serum D dimer level was not detected during the first 24 hours in any of the six conventionally treated patients, including two patients who manifested the clinical syndrome of spontaneous reperfusion. The data suggest that in patients with acute myocardial infarction, an elevated serum level of D dimer, a cross-linked fibrin degradation product occurs early after administration of a large dose of streptokinase, but is infrequent during the first 24 hours in conventionally treated patients with acute infarction. Measurement of D dimer may be potentially useful for monitoring thrombolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction.