Increased fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products without increase of plasmin-alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor complex after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma.

To clarify the meaning of increased serum fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) in the postoperative period of hepatectomy, blood coagulation and fibrinolysis were studied using recently devised laboratory assays of a group of 30 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Twenty of these cases were associated with liver cirrhosis. As a control group, 15 patients with colorectal carcinoma without liver diseases were also selected. In the early postoperative period following hepatectomy, a hypercoagulable state designated as intravascular thrombin generation was confirmed from the finding of increased plasma levels of fibrinopeptide A (FPA). Fibrinopeptide B beta 15-42 (B beta 15-42) in the plasma also increased immediately after the peak of FPA, followed by a gradual decline in B beta 15-42 levels. On the other hand, FDP in the serum increased significantly rather late in the postoperative period following hepatectomy without increased levels of plasmin-alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor complex. However, postoperative increase of fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products-D (FDP-D) was modest and not different from the colectomy group. Therefore, the relevance of intravascular coagulation in the hepatectomy for the patients with liver cirrhosis seems not to be significant, and then such an increase of FDP in the serum seems to be related to other mechanisms.