Malignant hypertension, fibrinoid deposition, and fibrinogen electrophoresis.

Electrophoretic profiles of the molecular weight distributions of fibrinogen derivatives in blood provide a tool for combined assessment of coagulation and fibrinolysis in the course of vascular disease. Profiles obtained in studies on an experimental model of hypertension and in humans with occlusive vascular disease are discussed. In the experimental studies elevations in the level of cross-linked dimers provided a more reliable means for predicting development of malignant hypertension than did many other criteria, especially near the outset when blood pressure changed to similar degrees in rats with malignant and benign hypertension. Similarly, we find that levels of dimeric and occasionally trimeric forms of fibrinogen are more prominently elevated than degraded forms of fibrinogen in patients with occlusive vascular disease.