[Changes in serum beta-thromboglobulin levels during oral contraception, cardiac valve disease and pulmonary embolism (author's transl)].

beta-thromboglobulin (beta TG), a platelet-specific protein, was measured in the plasma of 53 healthy subjects (20 men and 33 women), 53 women using estrogen-progestogen contraceptives, 31 patients with cardiac valve disease (including 19 with prosthesis) and 71 patients about to undergo scintigraphy for suspected pulmonary embolism. Compared with levels in healthy subjects, beta TG levels were significantly increased in oral contraceptive users and in cardiac patients with or without prosthesis. High beta TG levels were also found in 20 out of 28 patients with pulmonary embolism confirmed by scintigraphy, but also in some of the .9 lung patients with chronic bronchopulmonary disease. Cardiac patients treated with heparin had higher beta TG levels than non heparin-treated patients, which raises queries about a possible influence of heparin on this particular blood protein.