Clinical significance of plasma D-dimer and von Willebrand factor levels in patients with ulcer colitis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the levels of D-dimer(DD) and von Willebrand factor(vWF) and the relationship between DD and vWF in ulcerative colitis(UC) patients.


METHODS
A total of 29 plasma specimens were obtained from patients with ulcerative colitis (male 13, female 16) aged 21-47 years (33+/-11). Disease activity was assessed by Truelove-Writeria. Patients with a score of above 5 were regarded as having active colitis. Twenty healthy people(male 12, female 8) aged 19-53 years(31+/-14) served as normal controls. Blood samples were taken from an antecubital vein puncture. Blood(1.8 mL) was injected into the tubes containing sodium citrate (0.13 mmol/L). The plasma was obtained by centrifugation at 3000 r.min(-1) for 10 min, and stored at -80 degrees until assayed by ELISA.


RESULTS
The mean plasma levels of DD and vWF in active UC patients were significantly higher than those of the controls (0.69+/-0.41 vs 0.27+/-0.11, P<0.01 143+/-46 vs 103+/-35, P<0.01). The mean plasma levels of DD in the patients with active disease were higher than those with inactive disease(0.69+/-0.41 vs 0.48+/-0.29 P<0.05). The levels of vWF were not different between active and inactive patients. DD levels were positively related to vWF levels( r =0.574, P<0.01). There was no significant difference between levels of DD and vWF and the scope of disease and sex of the patients.


CONCLUSIONS
vWF is an important feature and a good marker of UC intravascular thrombus and endothelial cell dysfunction were found in UC patients and the combined test of DD and vWF is helpful to distinguish the activity of the UC patients.
Xu
Gang
G
Department of Gastroenterology, Chinese PLA 456 Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong Province, China. gangxujn@263.net
Tian
Ke-Li
KL
Liu
Guo-Ping
GP
Zhong
Xue-Jun
XJ
Tang
Shao-Ling
SL
Sun
Yan-Ping
YP
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; C036309:fibrin fragment D; D014841:von Willebrand Factor