Antithrombin III in uremia.

Antithrombin III (AT-III) was measured immunologically in 20 uremic patients on maintenance hemodialysis and in 10 non-dialysed uremic patients. The dialysed patients had slightly elevated AT-III levels. The non-dialysed patients had significantly elevated AT-III levels. A negative correlation was found between AT-III and serum creatinine and between AT-III and serum albumin. AT-III did not correlate to the heparin amount required for hemodialysis. A negative correlation was found between the heparin requirement and serum albumin. It is suggested, that serum albumin might facilitate the action of AT-III and heparin. It is also suggested, that AT-III levels may be high in active renal disease, decreasing as uremia advances.