Article Text
PDF
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Hyperviscosity, diabetes, and fibrinogen
A new technique for reducing plasma viscosity is to be tested in clinical trials in Europe and the United States. Selective elimination of fibrinogen, fibrin, and fibrin degradation products (which are considered to be major contributors to plasma viscosity) from the plasma will be achieved by passing the patient’s plasma over a matrix coated with the synthetic peptide Gly-Pro-Arg-Pro-Lys, a selective binder of these blood components. The plasma is immediately returned to the patient and the level of fibrinogen removal can be controlled by instant measurement of the fibrinogen levels. Successful treatments register levels of around 50 mg/dl amounting to 90% removal of the plasma fibrinogen. Initial trials are aimed at patients with leg ulcers and poor peripheral circulation, particularly those patients at risk of lower limb amputations. However, if the trials are successful an obvious application, according to Professor Werner Richter of the Research Institute of Lipid Metabolism and Haemorheology in Munich, is in patients with retinal vascular occlusions, particularly those with venous thrombosis in which previous studies have shown an association with plasma viscosity and reduced fibrinolytic activity (Williamsonet al, BJO1996;80:203–8).
Korsakoff’s psychosis
A recent report in the industry newspaperLaboratory News (9 August issue) stated that a small region of the city of Glasgow, Scotland, has the world’s highest incidence of Korsakoff’s psychosis, a rare condition characterised by retrograde and anterograde amnesia and confabulation, and linked to a very high consumption of beer (around 200 units or 100 pints) per week. Korsakoff’s psychosis is preceded by Wernicke’s encephalopathy in …