Serum fibrin(ogen) degradation products in diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after hip surgery.

Levels of fibrin(ogen) degradation products (F.D.P.) have been measured by radioimmunoassay for degradation product E (FgE) and by tanned-red-cell haemagglutination-inhibition immunoassay (T.R.C.H.I.I.) in the serum of thirty-three patients undergoing total hip replacement. Levels of F.D.P. did not correlate with thermographic evidence of deep-venous thrombosis. However, in 34 patients with pulmonary embolism, levels of F.D.P. measured by the T.R.C.H.I.I. were transiently raised at the time of embolus, and FgE concentrations were increased for up to 5 days preceding the embolus. Since the measurments of FgE is simple, convenient, and cheap, this estimation might constitute a valuable screening test for major thromboembolic episodes in the postoperative period.