Hemostatic abnormalities in chronic aggressive hepatitis and liver cirrhosis.

Hemostatic defects of chronic aggressive hepatitis (CAH), 25 cases, and of liver cirrhosis, 20 cases, were investigated. The following assays were performed: liver function tests, thromboelastogram, prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), factors I, II, V, X, XIII, euglobulin lysis time, fibrinogen degradation products (FDP), platelet count, morphology and agglutinability. High incidence of hemostatic defects was present in both groups. Thromboelastogram, PTT, prothrombin and qualitative platelet abnormalities were most common. On the whole, severity of hemostatic alterations in cirrhosis was more pronounced than that found in CAH, FDPs were increased in more than 50% of the CAH cases and only in a few cirrhotic patients. Bleeding occurred more frequently in cirrhosis (55%) than in CAH (4%) and, within the cirrhotic patients' group, it was associated with a more severe thrombocytopenia.