Fibrin Degradation Products in Sera of Women with Normal Menstruation and Menorrhagia

Menstrual Blood Loss and Fibrin Degradation Products

“…concentration. Why our findings differ from Basu's (1970) is difficult to explain. His patients may have differed in some relevant way from our subjects, since women who seek medical help may do so primarily because of a recent change in the volume of blood lost at menstruation, and such a change might be associated with temporarily increased local intrauterine fibrinolysis and so be reflected in raised systemic levels of serum F.D.P.…”

“…Using the tanned red cell haemagglutination inhibition immunoassay, Basu (1970) showed a significant rise in serum F.D.P. in all stages of the menstrual cycle in women complaining of menorrhagia, compared with a control group.…”

“…concentration coinciding with menstruation. Basu (1970) concluded that these systemic manifestations of increased invivo fibrinolysis were evidence of intensive local intrauterine activity. However, Das et al (1967) were unable to find any cyclical fluctuation in systemic F.D.P.…”

“…assay technique between Basu's (1970) laboratory and our own may also be relevant; in particular, the specificity of the antisera used, with special reference to the relative sensitivity of tests to detect the antigenically dissimilar D and E fragments. Checking our own antiserum with purified D and E products has shown extreme sensitivity to fragment D and only slightly less sensitivity to E.…”

“…Rybo (1966) found that women with menstrual blood losses of 80 ml or more had increased amounts of tissue plasminogen activators in the endometrium; and some women with menorrhagia have reported a subjective improvement in menstrual loss after treatment with an antifibrinolytic agent (Nilsson and Bjorkman, 1965). Basu (1970) reported that women complaining of menorrhagia had a higher concentration of circulating fibrin degradation products (F.D.P.) than a group of normal controls.…”