A rapid and simple fibrinogen determination.

A fast and simple fibrinogen determination is presented, based on the ammonium sulfate precipitation of fibrinogen. The nature of the precipitated material is investigated by means of immunoelectrophoresis. A comparison is made with a paper electrophoretic method, and a method based on the clotting properties of fibrinogen. The linearity, the within-run precision and normal values, obtained by this method are given. An advantage over other well-known methods is the use of a serum blank instead of a plasma blank without reagent. In this way all interfering substances are detected immediately and simple subtraction of blank readings from sample readings gives true fibrinogen values. The clinical application with respect to the acute phase of inflammation is discussed.