Abstract

Objective. It has previously been shown that fibrinogen is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. However, only a few studies have shown the correlation between the fibrinogen level and the extent of coronary artery disease and the presence of total luminal occlusion. The purpose of this study was to verify the existence of a correlation between fibrinogen and the presence of total luminal occlusion and the extent of coronary artery disease in our study population.

Methods and Results. The patients were characterized with regard to presence or absence of total luminal occlusion and the extent of coronary artery disease (single, double and triple vessels). The study population included 360 patients with coronary artery disease. 129 patients had total luminal occlusion. The remaining patients did not have total luminal occlusion. Additionally single vessel patients had 165 and double vessel patients had 135 and triple vessel patients had 60. The levels of plasma fibrinogen in the patients with total luminal occlusion were significantly higher than the patients without total luminal occlusion (4.76±1.36 g/l vs 4.21±1.04g/l, p