Acute Leukaemia is one of the diseases associated frequently with disseminated intravascular
coagulation (DIC) , early diagnosis and management of the primary illness will be of great help in
decreasing the frequency and the severity of this complication.
The study was conducted to confirm abnormalities of haemostasis and the evidence of
disseminated intravascular coagulaton in newly diagnosed patients with acute leukaemia at
presenrtation and post chemothaerpy.
Prospectively 40 newly diagnosed acute leukaemic patients were enrolled, 28/40 were with
acute myeloid leukaemia , 12/40 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia . Their age range between 9 to 60
years, 29/40 were females and 11/40 males.Prior to treatment and any supportive care, full clinical
evaluation, complete blood cell count and blood film, bone marrow examination, cytochemical
stains,liver and renal function tests were done and haemostatic evaluation was performed at time of
diagnosis and post induction therapy phase. The coagulation tests performed were prothrombin time
(PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), fibrinogen assay and D-dimer
reaction.
The Japanese score for diagnosis of disseminated coagulation and fibrinolysis in acute leukaemia was
adopted, but has been modified according to what is available of materials.
The laboratory tests results elicited that the most common haemostatic abnormalities are
thrombocytopenia 92.5%, positive D-dimer reaction 82.5%, prolonged APTT 42.5%, prolonged PT
30%, prolonged TT 22.5%, reduced fibrinogen 12.5%. The incidence of DIC was (25%), (70%) of
them presented with bleeding tendency, D-dimer reaction was positive in 100% of DIC cases, prolonged
PT in 90% of them, reduced fibrinogen in 50%. After treatment with supportive measures and induction
phase of chemotherapy the relative frequency of improvement was in 80% of DIC cases. The relative
frequency of improvement of PT, APTT, TT, bleeding manifestation, D-dimer reaction was 83.3%,
64.6%, 66.6%, 85.7%, 39.4% respectively.
Early diagnosis and management of DIC is important in reducing the mortality and morbidity
in acute leukemia by careful clinical evaluation together with the laboratory investigations applying the
modified Japanese score . Thrombocytopenia appears to be the most common haemostatic abnormality
,though it is not specific nor sensitive sign of DIC. A normal fibrinogen level does not exclude DIC
since it is an acute phase reactant but serial follow up assays of fibrinogen concentration may be more
informative. |