Background: Obesity is a multifactorial, progressing and life-long illness that consists in an exaggerated collection of fatty tissue. In 1997 WHO acknowledged that overweight and obesity had the character of an epidemic in developed countries. Studies show that in Poland morbid obesity was diagnosed in 2.2% of women and in 0.6% of men. Thromboembolic incidents occur very often in people with obesity, especially with morbid obesity. In hypercoagulability, fibrinolysis process decides about the scale of clinical symptoms of disorders of the hemostasis.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the chosen parameters of the fibrinolysis process in patients with BMI crossing 40, classified for surgical treatment of obesity.
Material and methods: The study was conducted in 50 patients with BMI > 40, including 30 women and 20 men. The mean age of the patients was 38.5 years. The control group was made up of 20 healthy volunteers, with a mean age of 38 years. In the blood of both groups the following examinations were performed: concentration of tissue plasminogen activator antigen (t-PA:Ag), antigen of the plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1:Ag), D-dimers, fibrinogen and plasminogen, activity of the α2-antiplasmin (α2-AP).
Results: The conducted study showed that in patients with morbid obesity there was a higher concentration of tPA:Ag, PAI-1:Ag, D-dimers and a higher activity of α2-AP.
Conclusions: The conducted study demonstrates that the activation of the fibrinolysis process appeared after the coagulation process, indicated by an increase in the t-PA:Ag concentration and D-dimers concentration in patients with morbid obesity. The essential growth of PAI-1:Ag level and α2-AP level shows strong inhibition of fibrinolysis in patients.