Scientific Journal of

  Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 Fibrin based sealants are frequently used to arrest blood loss in surgery. The aim of this study was to prepare fibrin-based sealants from thrombin and fibrinogen and evaluate the hemostatic efficacy of the fibrin sealant in a rabbit animal model.

 Materials and Methods

  In this experimental study, plasma was prepared with the apheresis method. Fibrinogen was prepared by mixing the cryoprecipitate with protamine sulfate and its concentration was assayed with an ELISA method. The fibrin sealant was applied to the controlled animal liver incisions then, the time of bleeding and the volume of blood loss were measured. Blood loss and time of bleeding were also evaluated in heparinized rabbits.

 Results

  The fibrinogen concentration precipitated with protamine sulfate was measured as being 71 ± 6 mg/ml. The thrombin mixed with fibrinogen had clot time of 5 ± 0.6 seconds. The application of the fibrin sealant significantly reduced the time of bleeding (8.8 ± 2 sec) and blood loss (1.05 ± 0.4 gr) of the rabbit liver incisions compared with the control (643 ± 96 sec, 6.9 ± 1.2 gr)(p<0.001). Despite the use of the fibrin sealant, the blood loss and the time of bleeding were greater, though not statistically significant, in the heparinized rabbits than in the nonheparinized rabbits (p= 0.2).

 Conclusions

 The fibrin sealant prepared by the precipitation of fibrinogen and thrombin offers a novel therapeutic approach to obtain autologus sealants for clinical use.