Salivary beta-thromboglobulin: a possible marker for deep vein thrombosis following elective hip surgery.

The concentration of the platelet specific protein B-thromboglobulin, (BTG) was measured in salivary samples obtained pre and postoperatively from 30 patients without evidence of renal disease and having total hip replacement arthroplasty. When postoperative deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) was detected using percutaneous ascending phlebography there was total correlation with elevated salivary BTG levels taking 0.33 micrograms/1 or greater on 2 consecutive occasions or more as indicating a deep venous thrombus. Eight of nine patients with a positive diagnosis of DVT on urokinase scanning would have been diagnosed using the same criterion. However BTG was elevated in a further 5 patients in whom labelled urokinase failed to demonstrate a DVT. These may have been localised in the calf and thus missed by, or lysed prior to, the scanning technique.