[Rheologic properties of the blood in infants with complicated pneumonia]

Blood rheology was assessed in 23 infants with acute pneumonia complicated with respiratory infectious toxicosis during hospitalization to intensive care wards, a control group consisted of 19 healthy infants. Plasma viscosity, red cell deformability, surface architectonics, and aggregation were studied. Patients developed increased plasma viscosity, marked reduction of red cell deformability, and increased aggregation index parallelled by reduced rate of aggregate formation. Changed red cell surface architectonics was associated with a reduced count of discocytes and parallel increase of echinocytes and cupola-like red cell forms. These data evidence marked disorders of blood rheology which should be not disregarded when choosing therapeutic policy.