[Progress in the detection of intravascular activation of fibrinolysis]

Methods for measuring antigen and activity of plasminogen activators (t-PA, u-PA), plasminogen activator inhibitors (PAI-1, PAI-2) and their complex have been improved in the past few years, but few comparative data are available and they should be standardized. In particular the commercial kits for determination of PAI-1 activity seem to be not accurate for the measurement of PAI-1 in plasma. The amount of generated plasmin can be measured as plasmin-alpha-2-antiplasmin complex (PAP). There are also some new tests which could differentiate between fibrinogenolysis (FgDP) and fibrinolysis (FnDP, D-dimer) as between primary and secondary activation of fibrinolysis (B beta 15-42 peptide). Normal D-dimer plasma concentration allows for the ruling out of venous thromboembolism with high probability, but the specificity of this tests is poor.