[Intravascular coagulation: symptom or disease?].

The laboratory pattern of intravascular coagulation is the result of complex mechanisms. The accelerated disappearance of substrates may be partially or completely compensated by increased production, depending on the integrity of liver and bone marrow. Ischemic complications are to be expected almost exclusively in acute cases, because of efficient mechanisms for the elimination of fibrin and other products. The typical laboratory pattern may be produced by loss of plasma from the circulation and extravasal proteolysis of the coagulation substrates. Chronic intravascular coagulation may be compensated, with resultant hyper-coagulability and increased risk of thromboembolic complications.