Assessment, in vitro, of the thrombogenicity of embolic homologous arterial thrombus material and of cholesterol crystals.

One of the complications associated with atherothromboembolic lesions is thrombosis. Recent evidence suggests that a non-lipid component of atheroma is intensely thrombogenic. To determine whether other of the embolic components might be thrombogenic, both homologous arterial thrombus material and pure cholesterol crystals were assessed by adding 0.9 mg of thrombus material or an equivalent quantity of crystals to 1 ml aliquots of recalcified rabbit arterial blood in tests designed to measure either clotting times or the size and weight of thrombi experimentally induced in a Chandler tube apparatus. This data was compared to that of comparative saline control conditions. The results indicate that homologous arterial thrombus material is moderately thrombogenic and that cholesterol crystals are not thrombogenic. This study demonstrates that embolizing arterial thrombus material could be contributory to secondary, and thus potentially more injurious, reactions in embolic vascular disease, and that cholesterol crystals appear not to contribute to complicating secondary thrombotic reactions.