Determination of fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products in gastric aspirate from patients with upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage.

During a 3-year period, 157 patients with upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage were admitted. In 54 of them gastric blood was made available for study of the level of fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) to reveal the prevalence of increased local fibrinolytic activity. In all patients except three, FDP in systemic and gastric blood was identical, at less than or equal to 40 micrograms/ml. Two patients with erosive gastroduodenitis and one with a gastric ulcer had high levels of FDP in blood aspirated from the stomach. The present results would suggest that increased local fibrinolytic activity is very seldom involved in the induction and/or maintenance of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage.