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.
