Recent acquisitions in the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation
- PDF / 364,239 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 610 x 792 pts Page_size
- 95 Downloads / 172 Views
BioMed Central
Open Access
Review
Recent acquisitions in the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation Massimo Franchini*1, Giuseppe Lippi2 and Franco Manzato3 Address: 1Servizio di Immunoematologia e Trasfusione – Centro Emofilia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Verona, Verona, Italy, 2Istituto di Chimica e Microscopia Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Morfologiche, Università di Verona, Verona, italy and 3Laboratorio di Analisi Chimico-Cliniche, Ospedale C. Poma, Mantova, Italy Email: Massimo Franchini* - [email protected]; Giuseppe Lippi - [email protected]; Franco Manzato - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 21 February 2006 Thrombosis Journal 2006, 4:4
doi:10.1186/1477-9560-4-4
Received: 03 January 2006 Accepted: 21 February 2006
This article is available from: http://www.thrombosisjournal.com/content/4/1/4 © 2006 Franchini et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a disorder characterized by both acute generalized, widespread activation of coagulation, which results in thrombotic complications due to the intravascular formation of fibrin, and diffuse hemorrhages, due to the consumption of platelets and coagulation factors. Systemic activation of coagulation may occur in a variety of disorders, including sepsis, severe infections, malignancies, obstetric or vascular disorders, and severe toxic or immunological reactions. In this review, we briefly report the present knowledge about the pathophysiology and diagnosis of DIC. Particular attention is also given to the current standard and experimental therapies of overt DIC.
Background Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a disorder characterized by massive systemic intravascular activation of coagulation, leading to widespread deposition of fibrin in the circulation which can compromise the blood supply to various organs, thus contributing to multiple organ failure. At the same time, the consumption of platelets and coagulation proteins resulting from the ongoing coagulation may induce severe bleeding[1-6]. However, DIC is not a disease itself but is always secondary to an underlying disorder [7,8]. In fact, a variety of clinical conditions may cause systemic activation of coagulation. Table 1 lists the diseases most frequently associated with DIC. Bacterial infections, in particular septicemia, are the most common clinical conditions associated with DIC. There is no difference in the incidence of DIC in patients with Gram-negative or Gram-positive sepsis. Systemic
infections by other micro-organisms, such as viruses and parasites, may also lead to DIC. The generalized activation of coagulation occurring in these cases is mediated by cell membrane com
Data Loading...
