Ratios of substrates and inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis in blood plasma of patients with heart ischemia.

To check the proposed hypothesis that the relative content of individual polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)--substrates and inhibitors of prostanoid synthesis--in plasma can be regarded as a quantitative risk factor of blood clotting, a test was conducted on free fatty acids content in blood plasma of healthy people (group 0) and patients with heart ischemia before (group 1) and after (group 2) they were treated for a month with a food additive called "Eiconol," enriched with PUFA omega 3. Different proportions of PUFAs have been calculated in all cases, accounting for the contribution of each acid to the process of primary clotting. Comparison of PUFA rations among the three groups showed significant differences of means between groups 0 and 1 and also group 1 and 2 for 6 out of 7 proposed coefficients, which disappeared after "Eiconol" treatment (comparison of groups 0 and 2). The results led to the conclusion that out of the proposed PUFA proportions, the coefficients describing the relative content of arachidonic acid in blood plasma may be the most informative for diagnosis and treatment efficiently in evaluation of heart and vascular diseases.