Lipoprotein electrophoresis in fat embolism: a preliminary report.

Serum lipoprotein electrophoresis and other laboratory tests were made on 14 injured patients over 10 days. Reduction in the pre-beta fraction to an average of 6 per cent, with an elevation of the alpha lipoprotein fraction to an average of 41 per cent, were recorded. The patients without complications regained their normal lipoprotein pattern within 48 hours, while in the two cases who developed fat embolism, the deranged pattern lasted for up to 10 days. The clinical diagnosis of fat embolism is based on signs that appear generally within 3 days following injury. As prognosis depends on early diagnosis, in order to start treatment before full blown clinical signs are present, there is the need for a laboratory test which gives early results and is reliable and easy to perform. This study shows an apparently distinct pattern of the serum lipoproteins which may provide us with a warning about which patients are at risk of developing fat embolism.