LEVELS OF HEMOSTATIC VARIABLES IN ARTERIAL AND VENOUS-BLOOD FROM PATIENTS WITH ISCHEMIC HEART-DISEASE

In order to validate the use of venous blood samples in a study of the prediction of arterial disease, a number of haemostatic variables have been measured in simultaneous venous and arterial samples from 31 patients with ischaemic heart disease undergoing cardiac catheterization. There were no significant differences between the venous and arterial samples in mean levels of factors II, V, VII, VIII and X, fibrinogen, antithrombin III or fibrinolytic activity, although all mean values from venous samples were very slightly higher than from arterial samples. There was a high degree of correlation between the values of the two samples in individual patients. The use of venous samples in studies of haemostatic variables in arterial disease seems justifiable. © 1979.