Plasma tissue factor pathway inhibitor in disseminated intravascular coagulation: comparison of its behavior with plasma tissue factor.

In order to assess the clinical implication of tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), plasma concentrations of TFPI were measured together with plasma tissue factor (TF) in 30 healthy subjects and 49 patients with DIC associated with a variety of underlying diseases. The mean TFPI concentration was elevated in patients with DIC at presentation (205.8 +/- SD 79.1 ng/ml) as compared with healthy subjects (97.3 +/- 22.2 ng/ml, P < 0.001). The mean plasma TF concentration in patients with DIC (412.7 +/- 445.7 pg/ml) was also higher than that in healthy subjects (137.5 +/- 50.6 pg/ml, P < 0.001). Elevated TF levels were found predominantly in patients with DIC caused by cancer and leukemia, whereas TFPI was elevated in all underlying disease categories. Plasma TFPI concentration did not correlate with plasma TF. In addition, hemostatic markers of DIC such as thrombin-antithrombin complex, prothrombin fragment 1 + 2, plasmin-plasmin inhibitor complex, FDP or fibrinogen did not correlate with TFPI. Serial determinations of plasma TFPI in each patient demonstrated that the behavior of TFPI was independent of the changes in plasma TF and other hemostatic parameters. These findings indicate that plasma TFPI does not decrease in DIC and is not valuable for monitoring the progress of DIC.