@article{57de32d8958d450ba473bff5a9826a01,
title = "Activation of blood clotting in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Relationship to disease activity",
abstract = "We used a radioimmunoassay for fibrinopeptide A (FPA) to detect activation of blood clotting in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). FPA levels were elevated in all patients with any degree of clinically detectable inflammation but were normal (< 1.5 ng/ml) or near normal in most patients in remission. The increase in concentration of plasma FPA varied directly with the number of organ systems that showed evidence of inflammation. In individual patients, changes in FPA preceded or closely paralleled changes in disease activity. We observed marked increases in FPA concentration prior to clinical exacerbations and marked decreases prior to drug-induced remissions. The activity of the clotting system as reflected by plasma FPA values appears to parallel the extent of inflammation and to provide a sensitive index of disease activity in patients with SLE.",
author = "Hardin, {John A.} and Malcolm Cronlund and Edgar Haber and Bloch, {Kurt J.}",
note = "Funding Information: From the Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven Connecticut, and the Clinical Immunology, Allergy, Arthritis, and Cardiac Units of the Medical Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Massachusetts. This study was supported by &ants NHLI 14322, AM5067, AM03564 and Al 11785 from ths U.S. Public Health Service, and by grants from the Arthritis Foundation and its Massachusetts Chapter, the L.H. Bendit Foundation, and the Kroc Foundation. It was presented in part at the American Rheumatism Association National Scientific Meeting in Miami Beach, December 10-11, 1976. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. John A. Hardin, Yale University School of Medicine, Section of Rheumatology, 609 LCl, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, Connecticut 065 10. Manuscript accepted March 10, 1978. {\textquoteright} Supported in part by a special postdoctoral fellowship from the National Heart and Lung Institute. + Present address: Department of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, VA Hospital, Newington, Connecticut 06111.",
year = "1978",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1016/0002-9343(78)90769-6",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "65",
pages = "430--436",
journal = "The American Journal of Medicine",
issn = "0002-9343",
publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",
number = "3",
}