Abstract
The fibrin stabilizing factor (FSF, Factor XIII) in children was investigated. Materials were obtained from 99 normal children ranging from one-day-old infants to 15-year-old children, and 25 cases with disorders such as purpura, leukemia, hemophilia, congenital afibrinogenemia, defibrination syndrome, etc. Two methods were used simultaneously on each material. One is a simpler method, in which the fibrin clot was produced by mixing plasma, calcium ion and Owrens buffer (pH 7.4) (method A), and in another method, the clot was produced by mixing serially diluted plasma, FSF free fibrinogen, and thrombin (method B). In the former method, the complete dissolution of the clot in 1% monochloroacetic acid (MCA) was examined daily for 5 days, and in the latter method, the level of FSF was expressed by the lowest concentration of plasma, which showed the complete dissolution of the clot in 2% MCA solution after the elapse of 18 hours.
Results showed that the values of FSF were low in the newborn period and they reached normal within 2 to 3 weeks. In the premature infants, the value of the factor remained low even 2 months after birth.
In about 20 per cent of pathological cases, including those of defibrination syndrome, leukemia, and purpura, the values of the factor were lower than the normal.
The results obtained from the normal newborn by both methods showed good correlation which could not be proved in the pathological group, esp. in ITP.
