Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0149871 (deep vein thrombosis)
 12,364 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In 1933 Streptokinase (SK) was isolated from bacterial strains of haemolytic Streptococci. Since then it has become the widest spread drug for fibrinolysis. SK, a protein, consists of 415 aminoacids and has a molecular weight of 47,000u. Together with the plasminogen (PLG) of the blood it forms activator complexes, which then convert other PLG molecules of the blood to plasmin. Plasmin attacks and dissolves fibrin deposits. As a substance produced by bacteria SK stimulates antibody formation in the body, the titer will increase during therapy, and SK lysis should be terminated after 6 days of treatment. Usually SK is administered intravascularly to treat a wide range of diseases, associated with pathological activation of hemostasis, like deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction etc.. Contraindications can be traced back to the effects of SK on coagulation and the immune system. Bleeding is the most common side effect, but also a few anaphylactic reactions, caused by massive antigen-antibody precipitation have been observed. The rate of lethality of the treatment was established at 0.7% of the cases. To reduce the incidence of side effects modifications of the drug have been proposed, such as activator complex, light B chain SK, and acylated activator therapy. Compared with Urokinase, SK shows a higher rate of side effects, especially in the field of the immune system. Therapy with Urokinase can be controlled more easily. Nevertheless because of considerable price differences and logistics, SK is preferred in Europe and the USA. If strict guidelines in therapeutic use are followed, the rate of side effects of the drug can be curtailed and will be comparable to those of Urokinase.
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PMID:Review and current status of thrombolytic therapy with streptokinase. 354 44

Thermography, clinical examination and 99Tcm-plasmin test were performed in 112 patients and compared with phlebography. The study population consists of consecutive outpatients with symptoms compatible with deep venous thrombosis, who presented during regular clinic hours. Scoring systems were constructed for the clinical and thermographic evaluation. Both thermography and clinical diagnosis were insufficiently sensitive and specific for screening purposes. Plasmin test had a high sensitivity, 95%, but a low specificity. It is possible that a combination of thermography and clinical diagnostic criteria can provide an acceptable screening procedure. Combining thermography with a routine examination by the physician on duty yielded less favourable results.
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PMID:Thermography in the diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis. A comparison with 99Tcm-plasmin test, clinical diagnosis and phlebography. 622 77

Plasmin is the prototype of a distinct class of "direct-acting" fibrinolytic agents, with biochemical and physiological attributes that are favorable for catheter-delivered thrombolytic therapy. Our studies indicate that plasmin is superior to plasminogen activators for hemostatic safety and thrombolytic efficacy in experimental models, and that plasmin has potential to avoid the bleeding risk that accompanies therapy of deep vein thrombosis with currently-used thrombolytic agents.
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PMID:Thrombolytic therapy for deep vein thrombosis: potential application of plasmin. 1930 6

Two issues have held the focus of thrombolysis research for over 50 years, namely, choosing between a plasminogen activator (PA) or plasmin as the best therapeutic agent and choosing between systemic or local administration. The original plasmin product of the 1950s was both ineffective and contaminated with PA, and catheter technology was not yet developed for routine clinical use. For decades, clinical practice has focused on PA and systemic administration, but today, PAs are often administered by catheter into thrombosed vessels, notably for peripheral arterial and graft occlusion and deep vein thrombosis, and increasingly for acute ischaemic stroke. Despite using catheter-delivered therapy, bleeding complications still occur, most severely expressed as symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage. New experimental data indicate that we should now reconsider plasmin as a viable, even preferable, thrombolytic agent. Plasmin requires catheter delivery to achieve thrombolysis, but this technical issue has been solved with modern technology and widespread presence of interventional suites. After local administration, plasmin will lyse thrombi; thereafter, any plasmin in the circulation will be rapidly neutralised. Pre-clinical studies confirm that plasmin has marked haemostatic safety advantage over t-PA. After more than 50 years, the field has come full circle, and plasmin as the thrombolytic agent and catheter use for local delivery of agent may represent a step forward in thrombolytic therapy.
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PMID:Historical perspective and future direction of thrombolysis research: the re-discovery of plasmin. 2178 Dec 73

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a major health problem affectinga significant portion of population. Primary complications are Pulmonary Embolism (PE) in the short term and Post-Thrombotic Syndrome (PTS) in the long term. Thrombolytic drugs act by activating plasminogen which in turn forms the enzyme plasmin. Plasmin consequently degrades blood clots by breaking down the fibrin molecules which make up the clots help to degrade the already formed clot. They can be used using different route of administration, doses and durations. The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the outcome of thrombolytic therapy in terms of the efficacy, safety and effectiveness of the medicines. Electronic searches of databases (MEDLINE and Google Scholar) were queried for articles written in English since 2000 GC. A total of 760 results were obtained using the search keys, and after excluding duplicates, 275 articles were selected. Finally, 9 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which met the language of publication, study design and exclusion criteria were included in this systematic review. The data were obtained from nine trials (6 countries), providing a study-level data of 1309 participants. Almost all studies revealed that thrombolytic treatment was effective in the management of acute DVT. In most of the studies, the rate of rethrombosis was lower in case of thrombolytic than standard management. Hence, addition of thrombolytic results in persistence and increases the clinical benefits. Thrombolytic therapy was very effective in reversing closed veins, in boosting the patency rate,whilereflux was higher in patients treated with anticoagulants. Thrombolytic offers potential advantages over the standard treatment of DVT by reducing the proportion of patients with chronic disabling leg symptoms (such as PTS) by triple in the longer term. However, the incident of major bleeding was higher in patients receiving thrombolytics than anticoagulants.
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PMID:Outcome of Acute Deep Venous Thrombosis Using Standard Treatment versus Thrombolytics: A Literature Review. 3187 95