Abstract
The frequency with which blood hyperviscosity is associated with various degenerative cardiovascular disorders or with disorders which are regarded as vascular risk factors, has been underlined by numerous authors. But is there a connection between these different factors or a common determining cause which might explain the prevalence of these factors in the evolution of certain degenerative cardiovascular disorders? During the past ten years or so, numerous investigations have shown that the rheological changes in blood or in the blood cells might constitute one of the parameters the risk factors have in common. We are now fully aware that there is a change in the rheological parameters of blood during coronary heart disease, vascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. But can we assume that at the pre-clinical stage of atheroscelrosis the risk factors all have in common a blood hyperviscosity syndrome which might foreshadow and promote the ischemic complications? It is not possible at the present time to provide a definite answer to this question.
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