Acid Hyperphenylphosphatasia in Thrombophlebitis and Pulmonary Embolism

Abstract

Both erythrocytes and platelets are rich in acid phosphatase. Hence it was suspected that in acute thromboembolism a sufficient amount of the enzyme might be released from degenerating cells enmeshed within the blood clots to raise the serum activity to diagnostic levels. The authors measure the acid phenylphosphatase activity, using the Gutman modification of the King-Armstrong method. The study was confined to women in order to eliminate any prostatic contribution to the serum enzyme activity. The normal serum acid phenylphosphatase activity in 100 adult female control subjects was 0.3-1.6 units. Two female patients with pulmonary emboli due to rheumatic heart disease and eight of the nine female patients with thrombophlebitis of the lower extremities unassociated with demonstrable pulmonary embolism showed "elevated" acid phenylphosphatase activities of 2.0-3.2 units during the acute phase of their disease, a fall to "borderline" values of 1.7-1.8 units during convalescence, and a return to "normal" values of 0.3-1.3 units after recovery. It is suspected that the acid hyperphenylphosphatasia of acute thrombo-embolism is caused by release of the enzyme from degenerating erythrocytes and/or platelets enmeshed within the blood clots.