Role, laboratory assessment and clinical relevance of fibrin, factor XIII and endogenous fibrinolysis in arterial and venous thrombosis

Diseases such as myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, peripheral vascular disease and venous thromboembolism are major contributors to morbidity and mortality. Procoagulant, anticoagu-lant and fibrinolytic pathways are finely regulated in healthy individuals and dysregulated procoagulant, anticoagulant and fibrinolytic pathways lead to arterial and venous thrombosis. In this review article, we discuss the (patho)physiological role and laboratory assessment of fibrin, factor XIII and endogenous fibrinolysis, which are key players in the terminal phase of the co-agulation cascade and fibrinolysis. Finally, we present the most up-to-date evidence for their involvement in various disease states and assessment of cardiovascular risk.