The influence of lower-leg injury and knee arthroscopy on natural anticoagulants and fibrinolysis

Patients with lower-leg injuries and those undergoing knee arthroscopy are at increased risk of developing venous thromboembolism. The mechanism is unknown, including the influence of lower-leg injury and knee arthroscopy on natural anticoagulant factors and fibrinolysis. To study the effect of lower-leg injury and knee arthroscopy on plasma levels of anticoagulant and fibrinolytic factors. We applied the following 2 designs to investigate this effect: a cross-sectional study for lower-leg trauma and a before-and-after study for knee arthroscopy. Plasma samples of POT-CAST– and POT-KAST–randomized clinical trial participants (collected shortly after lower-leg trauma or before or after arthroscopy) were analyzed for clot lysis time and levels of antithrombin, tissue factor pathway inhibitor, protein C, free protein S, plasminogen, tissue plasminogen activator, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, antiplasmin, thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor, plasmin-antiplasmin, and D-dimer. For the effect of lower-leg injury, samples of 289 patients were compared with preoperative samples of 293 arthroscopy patients, acting as controls using linear regression and adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, comorbidities, and diurnal variation. For the effect of knee arthroscopy, mean changes were calculated for 277 patients using linear mixed models adjusted for diurnal variation. Parameters other than CLT and D-dimer were measured in smaller subsets. In lower-leg injury patients, most parameters were stable, whereas D-dimer increased. After arthroscopy, most parameters decreased (especially clot lysis time, D-dimer, plasminogen, and anticoagulant factors), whereas tissue plasminogen activator and thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor slightly increased. In contrast to lower-leg injury, knee arthroscopy was associated with decreased natural anticoagulant factor levels. Neither lower-leg injury nor knee arthroscopy affected in vivo fibrinolysis. •The mechanism of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after lower-leg injury and knee arthroscopy is unknown.•The effect of both conditions on natural anticoagulants and fibrinolysis was explored in this study.•Natural anticoagulant factor levels decreased after knee arthroscopy, unlike after lower-leg injury.•In vivo fibrinolysis was neither affected by lower-leg injury nor by knee arthroscopy.