Fibrinogen

Your doctor may order a fibrinogen test if you get recurrent episodes of continuous bleeding or abnormal blood clot formation. Certain conditions that demand this test are as follows:

• Family history of bleeding or clotting disorder such as inherited fibrinogen deficiency
• Unexplained profuse bleeding
• Abnormal blood tests such as prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time
• To detect the risk of liver diseases or kidney failure
• To check the effect of medication used to dissolve blood clots
• To evaluate the risk of cardiac diseases
• If the following signs and symptoms related to disseminated intravascular coagulation are seen:
  • Blood in urine or stool
  • Bleeding from nose, gum or mouth
  • Bruises and formation of small red dots
  • Blackening of the skin due to poor blood flow to the skin
  • Chest pain due to a blood clot in the heart
  • Cough due to blood clotting in lungs

No special preparation is needed before the fibrinogen test. Fasting is not necessary either. Inform your doctor if you are taking any prescribed, non-prescribed, legal or illicit drugs. 

Women should avoid taking oestrogen supplements and oral contraceptives before this test as it may elevate the level of fibrinogen in their blood.

If you are consuming atenolol, cholesterol-lowering agents, corticosteroids, fluorouracil, progestin, thrombolytics, ticlopidine or valproic acid, you should inform your doctor as these medicines decrease fibrinogen levels in the body. However, do not skip any medication before consulting the doctor.

Before performing this test, your doctor or lab technician will explain the procedure to you. He/she will then draw a blood sample in the following manner:

• The technician will clean the site of injection with an antiseptic solution
• He/she will tie a tourniquet (elastic band) around your upper arm and ask you to make a tight fist. This will help locate the right vein for blood withdrawal
• Then, he/she will insert a sterile needle and collect the required amount of blood sample
• After the sample is collected, the band will be removed, and the sample will be sent to a laboratory for testing

The test procedure usually takes less than three minutes. When the needle is inserted, you may experience mild pain. People with bleeding problems are at a slightly greater risk of excessive bleeding than healthy people. Other risks associated with drawing a blood sample include the following:

• Fainting
• Blood accumulation under the skin
• Excessive bleeding

Fibrinogen blood test results may differ based on the gender, age, method used for the test and health history. Consult your healthcare practitioner to interpret the results.

Normal results:

Typically, the normal levels of fibrinogen vary between 200 and 400 mg/dL. These values indicate that sufficient fibrinogen protein levels are present in the given blood sample.

Abnormal results:

When the level of fibrinogen is less than 50 mg/dL, it can indicate the following conditions:

• Abortion
• Advanced cancer 
• Anaemia
• Cirrhosis 
• Disseminated intravascular coagulation
• Dysfibrinogenemia (structural changes in fibrinogen)
• Eclampsia (beginning of seizures)
• Fat embolism (blockage of a blood vessel due to fat)
• Haemophilia A and B
• Hereditary afibrinogenemia 
• Leukaemia (blood cancer)
• Liver disease
• Malnutrition
• Sepsis
• Shock
• Transfusion reaction

A high fibrinogen level (more than 700 mg/dL) may indicate the following conditions:

• Post-operative period
• Rheumatic fever
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Tissue damage/injury
• Tuberculosis
• Uraemia (high level of urea in the blood)
• Acute infection
• Burns
• Breast cancer, stomach cancer or lung cancer
• Stroke
• Glomerulonephritis (inflammation of filters in the kidney)
• Heart disease
• Hepatitis
• Inflammation
• Late pregnancy
• Menstruation
• Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
• Nephrosis
• Pneumonia

Disclaimer: All results must be clinically correlated with the patient’s complaints to make a complete and accurate diagnosis. The above information is provided from a purely educational point of view and is in no way a substitute for medical advice by a qualified doctor.