On fibrinolysis in diabetes mellitus.

In diabetics, irrespective of age at onset and standing of the disease, the fibrinolytic activity in the blood is decreased, most markedly in obese patients and in those with angiopathy. In this investigation we found--significantly more often than in controls--a low release of the plasminogen activator to the blood from the endothelial cells, and also in one fourth of the diabetics an abnormally low activator activity of the vessel walls. These changes, as well as the significantly elevated levels of inhibitors of the fibrinolytic activity, will impair removal of fibrin deposits and possibly contribute to the development of vascular lesions.