Fatal disseminated intravascular coagulation and hemolytic anemia following stibophen therapy: a study of basic mechanisms

Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation: Pathogenesis and Management

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a clini-copathological syndrome secondary to an underlying disease. Characteristic laboratory abnormalities of DIC should suggest, much like the recognition of fever, anemia, or congestive heart failure, that an inciting disease process must be searched for. The clinical and laboratory consequences of DIC can be ascribed to the unregulated and unbalanced formation of thrombin, the main clot-forming enzyme, and plasmin, the main clot-lysing enzyme. If too much plasmin is formed in relation to thrombin, a hemorrhagic state, which appears in 60 to 75% of patients with deep vein thrombosis, will occur. Alternatively, if too much thrombin is formed in relation to the degree of secondary fibrinolysis, a thrombotic condition, which appears in 25 to 40% of patients with DIC, will become manifest. The diagnosis of DIC is dependent on the presence of an appropriate clinical situation with concurrent laboratory evidence of thrombin and plasmin formation. Thrombin formation, plasmin formation, or both, can be assessed by detection of fibrin monomer, fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products, and D-dimer or E fragment, respectively. Treatment of DIC should initially be addressed to treatment of the primary, underlying condition inciting the disorder. If treatment for DIC is specifically needed, blood product replacement is the first order of therapy. This replacement should be tailored to each patient's specific needs (i.e., platelets, fibrinogen, or plasma proteins). Heparin has a definite but limited use in conditions associated with acral cyanosis and dermal ischemia. Other specific therapies for DIC may be of use in individualized situations.

Cardiopulmonary arrest following an infusion of calcium 2-amino ethanol phosphate

The intravenous infusion of calcium 2-amino ethanol phosphate was coincidental with cardiopulmonary arrest in a 53-year-old woman with a history of multiple sclerosis. Resuscitation was followed by massive hemolysis, renal failure, adult respiratory distress syndrome, shock liver, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. This agent, in use by at least one practitioner in West Germany for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders is not FDA approved for use in the United States, nor is clinical investigation underway. It is currently thought to be in use by about 200 practitioners throughout this country as treatment for multiple sclerosis. It is apparently obtained in West Germany and brought illegally into the United States. This is the first known report of an adverse drug reaction associated with the use of this product.

Chronic glomerular microangiopathy and metastatic carcinoma

Two patients with metastatic colonic adenocarcinoma developed deterioration of renal function six and nine months after the diagnosis of malignant disease. A renal biopsy specimen in one case and both postmortem specimens revealed thickening of glomerular capillary loops with focal reduplication of basement membrane-like material. Ultrastructural examination of all three specimens demonstrated a lucent subendothelial zone and no evidence of electron dense deposits. Antifibrinogen staining outlined most capillary loops in one case. It appears that chronic intravascular coagulation induced by the neoplasm was the major pathogenetic process involved in the production of the glomerular lesion in each case.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation as a complication of abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

A retrospective review was done of all patients undergoing surgical repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) on whom coagulation studies were obtained. Those patients with laboratory documented disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) were selected and their clinical records reviewed. This included 7 patients studied in the periods 1964-1965 and January 1971-July 1973. Of these 7 cases, 4 occurred in patients undergoing emergency operation for ruptured aneurysm and 3 were in elective cases. All 7 patients exhibited clinical evidence of abnormal bleeding, while 6 of the 7 progressed rapidly to renal shutdown. The seventh patient recovered spontaneously. Of the 6 patients with full blown clinical and laboratory evidence of DIC, 2 recovered. Both cases received heparin therapy and multiple hemodialyses. A third patient was started on heparin but died at 36 hours in heart failure. All 3 patients receiving heparin showed clinical cessation of abnormal bleeding and disappearance of soluble fibrin monomer complexes within 24 hours of starting therapy. The study suggests a higher incidence of DIC than has previously been appreciated in both the emergency and elective repair of AAA. The prompt recognition and treatment of this complication may reverse the abnormal intravascular clotting, minimize its more serious results and avoid futile and dangerous operative intervention.