Serum elastase levels following a stroke in elderly subjects.

The elastase content of the serum of stroke patients is appreciably higher immediately after the cerebral incident and, in the case of those destined to survive, falls subsequently back to the normal level for their age group. The degree of elevation of the elastase content, the period which elapses before it is attained and the rate at which the level returns to normal are all age related. Those patients who die within 1 week of their initial stroke suffer a dramatic rise in serum elastase content immediately prior to death.