[Evaluation of certain hemostasis parameters in premature infants]

In order to evaluate the specificity of hemostatic mechanism in premature Infants, the following examinations of coagulation and fibrinolytic parameters have been done: platelet number, concentrations of fibrinogen prothrombin, factors V, VII X, X, VIII, IX and XIII, antithrombin III, plasminogen, euglobulin lysis time, fibrin degradation products, alpha-1 antiplasmin and alpha-2 macroglobulin. The examinations have been done in the whole of 18 premature infants of both sexes. The obtained results show that lowered level of coagulant activity was not exclusively the consequence of low activity of vitamin-K dependent factors, but the result of more complex disorders partly connected with the transient reduction of factors VIII, XIII and fibrinogen. The total fibrinolytic activity, in the meantime, was of the normal intensivity. The established disorder of coagulation-fibrinolytic balance probably represents the certain contributing factor in more frequent occurrence of haemorrhagic syndrome in premature infants.