Anticoagulation Therapy Using rh-Thrombomodulin and/or Antithrombin III Agent is Associated With Reduction in in-Hospital Mortality in Septic Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation: A Nationwide Registry Study.

We analyzed the Nationwide Registry database on sepsis to examine the effects of an anticoagulation therapy, especially with rh-thrombomodulin (rh-TM) and/or antithrombin (AT) III agent, in septic disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) patients. In 3,193 patients enrolled after the exclusion, we investigated the association with in-hospital mortality using Cox proportional hazards models. DIC was diagnosed using the Japanese Association of Acute Medicine (JAAM) and the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH) criteria. To analyze the separate treatment effects of rh-TM and/or AT III, we excluded the data of 345 patients treated with all available anticoagulation treatments (rh-TM and/or AT III plus "other anticoagulants": protease inhibitors and heparin/heparinoids). The DIC criterion populations were as follows: JAAM DICs, n = 1,891 and ISTH DICs (overt DIC), n = 1,002. Septic DIC patients were divided into 3 groups: Group 1, no anticoagulation therapy for DIC; Group 2, received rh-TM and/or AT III; and Group 3, received only "other anticoagulants." In JAAM DIC patients, Group 2 did not show an independent association with a reduced risk of in-hospital mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73-1.01]) as compared with Group 1. However, in ISTH DIC patients, Group 2 showed an inverse association with the risk of in-hospital mortality (HR 0.74; 95% CI: 0.60-0.92) as compared with Group 1, but the same was not true for Group 3 (HR 0.73; 95% CI: 0.47-1.14). The present results support previous findings of the beneficial effects of anticoagulation therapies in septic DIC, also expands the importance of using rh-TM and/or AT agent for septic overt DIC.