Fibrinogen [antikvár]

Atherosclerotic vascular diseases are progressive conditions of multifactorial origin. Disorders of lipid metabolism are of central importance among the cardiovascular risk factors. But haemostaseological mechanisms are also highly implicated. Since the first results of the Northwick Park Heart study [55] were published in 1980, there have been increasing reports about the association between haemostaseological factors and cardiovascular diseases. High fibrinogen levels correlate strongly with the prevalence of myocardial infarction and cerebral stroke [57, 93]. Haemostatic components such as factor VII and fibrinogen are thus critically involved in the progression of atherosclerosis and the thrombotic complications of atherosclerosis. Preventive measures therefore include the diagnostic determination of the fibrinogen concentration as a means of estimating the overall cardiovascular risk profile. Future lines of approach will comprise the evaluation of a critically elevated fibrinogen threshold value, the trial of reliable methods of fibrinogen determination and of new selectively acting fibrinogen lowering therapeutic drugs with the aim of identifying and optimally treating high risk patients.