Abstract
This study was performed to investigate the activity of fibrinolytic system and its inhibitors in open heart surgery. Twenty patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) were included in this study. ATIII was decreased and FPA was increased during CPB, suggesting that coagulation pathway is activated during CPB despite the use of heparin. On the other hand, FDP and FPBβ15-42 were increased during CPB. These data and fibrin plate tests indicats that during CPB the extrinsic fibrinolytic system was predominantly activated following the transient activation of the intrinsic fibrinolytic pathway. Alpha 2-PI and plasmin complex (α2PI.Pm complex) was increased gradually during CPB, At the same time these fibrinolytic activities were decreased gradually, indicating that generated plasmin is rapidly inactivated by inhibitors such as α2-PI in the circulating blood.
