Kinetics Of Antithrombin III During Severe Consumption Coagulopathy In An Infant Measured Without Radioactive Tracer Proteins

The precise diagnosis of disseminated intravascular coagulation remains difficult to achieve: Decreased production of coagulation factors and/or thrombocytes can mimic the laboratory pattern of disseminated intravascular coagulation. The measurement of increased turnover rates for coagulation proteins would provide more convincing criteria.

During the course of severe coagulopathy in an infant suffering from septicaemia and shock, antithrombin levels were determined repeatedly before and during treatment with Antithrombin concentrate: Activities and concentrations were measured, using chromogenic substrates and immunodiffusion plates, respectively. By mathematical analysis of these data, using a biexponential function, the plasma elimination half-life of the antithrombin III was estimated to be 7.5 to 10.5 hours. Compared with known plasma half-lives of radioactively labelled antithrombin III in adults, the increase was five- to ten-fold. This indicates an accelerated consumption of antithrombin III in this case of severe coagulopathy.