Erythrocyte deformability and acute phase reactant proteins in arteriosclerosis obliterans patients

Forty patients with arteriosclerosis obliterans and thirty controls were investigated for erythrocyte deformability with three methods. These methods were Reid and Dormandy’s on whole blood and on washed erythrocytes and the haemorheometer technique. In addition the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, the white blood cell count and the acute phase reactant proteins were measured. Erythrocyte filterability was impaired in patients with the three methods. Signs of both subacute and chronic inflammation are observed in these patients. However there are weak correlations between these signs and the erythrocyte filterability on whole blood, as shown by the stepwise multiple regression analysis (r = 0.337). In contrast the correlation was closer in controls (r = 0.760). Thus, it is concluded that erythrocyte filterability is impaired in arteriosclerosis obliterans patients at least in part independantly of other blood component alterations.