[Modifications in hemorheological parameters following acute medical emergencies (author's transl)]

Various hemorheological parameters were studied in venous blood samples taken during the initial stages of acute medical emergencies in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. These included more particularly: cerebrovascular accidents, recent acute arterial or venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, acute renal failure, pregnancy toxemia and emergencies occurring during pregnancy or in the puerperium, coagulation disorders, gas embolism... The examinations conducted were:--measurement of apparent--blood viscosity (eta a) and plasma viscosity--platelet aggregate fixation after fixing in formalin according to the method described by Wu and Hoak--blood filterability through filters with pores 5 microns in diameter. The principal modifications observed, often correlated were raised blood and plasma viscosity, reduction in the aggregation index, and diminution in filterability. It should be noted that the increase in viscosity, constant in all groups, is significant at low shearing speeds in the thrombosis cases, and that this significance is present in nearly all the pathological groups with high shearing speeds. Variations in the aggregation index are very dispersed and of low significance.