Fibrinolysis and Changes in Fibrinogen in Multiple Myeloma

Fibrinolysis has been described in a variety of disturbances. An excellent historical review and discussion of fibrinolysis was published in 1948, by Macfarlane and Biggs.¹A complete analytical review of fibrinolysis by Astrup appeared in 1956.²Acute fibrinolysis has been observed in severe trauma, shock, hemorrhages, burns, and transfusion reactions and following surgical procedures on the lung, uterus, and pancreas.³⁻⁵Acute fibrinolysis also has followed premature separation of the placenta and other obstetric accidents. In other cases fibrinolytic activity may be chronic, proceeding slowly, as in the patients described in this paper. Such chronic fibrinolysis has been described in acute leukemia,⁶cirrhosis of the liver,⁷a significant percentage of patients with carcinoma of the prostate,⁸⁻¹⁰and rarely in patients suffering from disseminated cancer of the bladder, stomach, breast, etc.³,¹¹True fibrinolysis was observed in one case of multiple myeloma and in one probable case of disseminated lupus erythematosus by Waldenström.¹²