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Fibrinogen test is a blood clotting test that is ordered along with other blood clotting tests. The test is simply ordered to measure the body’s ability to clot blood and the time it takes to form blood clots. Usually, this test is ordered as a follow up to the Partial Thromboplastin Time and Prothrombin Time tests. If there has been an episode of unusually long bleeding, the doctor usually recommends this test. Other tests such as abnormal fibrinolysis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, D-dimer blood test, platelets and fibrin degradation products are performed along with the fibrinogen test. Fibrinogen would sometimes also be ordered to monitor the status and treatment of progressive liver disease. In some rare cases, a fibrinogen test may also be ordered along with tests such as C reactive proteins and other cardiac risk marker tests. These are performed specifically to determine the overall risks of developing cardiovascular disease.
Fibrinogen is an essential clotting factor which is important for clotting the blood and preventing excessive bleeding from scrapes, gashes, and wounds. When the concentrations of fibrinogen decrease in the body, it impairs the body’s ability to form stable blood clots. If there are chronic low levels of fibrinogen, it could be due to a condition known as afibrinogenemia, which is a genetic disorder and can be confirmed by a fibrinogen tests. Severe malnutrition could also destroy the fibrinogen in the body. Large volume blood transfusions are another factor which may cause the temporary lowering of the fibrinogen in the blood.
In a rare case, a patient may have normal quantity of fibrinogen; however, the fibrinogen does not function in a normal manner, therefore reducing the ability to clot blood. In a condition where there is tissue damage or inflammation, fibrinogen levels in the blood increase drastically. If in a test result, the fibrinogen levels are seen to be elevated, it could be due to acute infections, trauma, stroke, cancer, inflammation, or inflammatory disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and coronary heart disease.
Both decrease and elevation of any blood clotting factor in the body could be extremely harmful. When the fibrinogen levels are decreased, a person is at the risk of losing too much blood from minor wounds and gashes. However, if the fibrinogen levels are particularly high, there may be an increased chance of developing blood clots in the body. This increases the risk of developing cardio vascular diseases and other such disorders in the event of which blood clots could cause harm to the blood vessels.
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