Abstract
Because the plasminogen value in the new born is extremely low, there is a possibility that administration of urokinase (UK) and streptokinase (SK) singly may not have a sufficient effect on the respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).
Thus, we administered urokinase and plasminogen to cases of RDS to improve the distress and to study the coagulation-fibrinolytic system in an attempt to clarify problematic points.
12 cases of RDS and 30 healthy new born infants were studied. Urokinase 300 units+plasminogen were given with 12 hours as a cycle and the following changes of the coagulation-fibrinolytic system, namely, (i) Fibrinogen, (ii) FDP, (iii) blood platelet count, (iv) plasminogen, (v) SFMC, (vi) α2-macroglobulin, (vii) antithrombin III, (ix) platelet aggregation were studied at the same time. Blood gas analysis of actual pH, PCO2, PO2 was conducted.
Results The RDS infants, showed an increase in fibrinogen at the early stages and a remarkable increase in SFMC (healthy new born 3.1±0.8, diseased infants 4.1±1.4%). The diseased infants showed a especially low α1-antitrypsin value.
In the treated group, the clinical reticular glanular pattern disappeared, a lowering of pCO2 was recognized and a decrease to 3.5±0.6% in SFMC was seen.
While a slight lowering of platelet aggregation wit ADP was seen in RDS infants (Prior to treatment: healthy infants 25.0±4.5%, RDS 21.8±2.1%), no influence of urokinase was seen (after treatment: healthy infants 27.0±3.8%, RDS 21.0±2.4%)
