Fibrinogen-detectable thrombosis in the legs and pulmonary embolism.

Thrombosis in the deep veins of the legs commonly follows surgical operations but is often undiagnosed. The fibrinogen uptake test is an aid to its detection. Perfusion lung scanning after injection of labelled macroalbumin aggregates has advanced the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.Studies were carried out on 40 patients undergoing surgical operation to determine whether the results of the fibrinogen uptake test were correlated with those of ventilation-perfusion lung scanning. A statistically significant relationship was found: 18% of patients had small, clinically silent emboli.