Hemostatic effects of stress hormone infusion.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Glucagon and Epinephrine, published as a randomized controlled trial.

To test the hypothesis that neuroendocrine hormones cause changes in hemostasis, the researchers infused stress hormones into normal volunteers and measured hemostatic function.

Why It Was Studied

Surgery causes changes in hemostasis, leading to a hypercoagulable state.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 12 volunteers were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers and adults, men only.

On two admissions, volunteers randomly received either stress hormone (epinephrine, cortisol, or glucagon) or placebo infusion for 24 h.

During infusion, patients remained at bed rest and received controlled meals.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and placebo-controlled study.

The volunteers were allocated by chance, so the Glucagon group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Some volunteers received a placebo instead of Glucagon, giving a reference point.

Blood was obtained from indwelling venous catheters before infusion and 2, 8, and 24 h after the start of infusion.

Blood was analyzed for neuroendocrine hormone concentrations, glucose, complete blood count, coagulation proteins, platelet reactivity, and activity of the fibrinolytic system.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Epinephrine, Fibrinogen, Glucagon, Hemodynamics, Hemostatics, Hydrocortisone and Insulin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon and Epinephrine in 12 volunteers.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1994 (Anesthesiology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Glucagon library page, all human trials.