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DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1650700
Isolated Familial Plasminogen Deficiency May not Be a Risk Factor for Thrombosis
Publication History
Received 19 March 1996
Accepted after resubmission 08 August 1996
Publication Date:
11 July 2018 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/10.1055-s-00035024/199606/lookinside/thumbnails/10-1055-s-0038-1650700-1.jpg)
Summary
Despite many reports of individuals with congenital plasminogen deficiency and thrombosis, there is still uncertainty whether heterozygous deficiency represents a real thrombophilic risk factor or simply a coincidental finding. We have addressed this issue by testing for plasminogen deficiency in a cohort of 9611 blood donors. Out of 66 donors with reduced plasminogen activity on two occasions 28 were shown to have a familial deficiency state (including 3 with dysplasminogen-aemia). Our observed prevalence rate for familial plasminogen deficiency, calculated at 2.9/1000 (95% Cl = 1.9-4.2 per 1000), was not significantly different from that calculated from published reports of congenital plasminogen deficiency in thrombotic cohorts (5.4/1000). Furthermore, with only two exceptions, all 80 donors and relatives with familial deficiency were asymptomatic with regard to thrombosis -including a 29 year old donor with suspected compound heterozygous hypoplasminogenaemia. These findings add further weight to the argument that familial heterozygous plasminogen deficiency, at least in isolation, does not constitute a significant thrombotic risk factor. However, it remains uncertain whether plasminogen deficiency, when combined with other thrombophilic conditions, may become more clinically important.
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