ASSOCIATION OF THROMBOSIS-INDUCING ACTIVITY (TIA) WITH FATAL HYPERCOAGULABLE COMPLICATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH LUNG-CANCER

We previously reported that thrombosis-inducing activity (TIA) is pres ent in plasma from patients with advanced lung cancer. Of 73 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, stages IIIb and IV, 41 (56 percent) h ad such activity in plasma. The median survival time was significantly shorter in the TIA-positive vs the TIA-negative group. When 34 of tho se 73 patients who had died at Kyushu University Hospital were evaluat ed for the incidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) a nd adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), they were significantly higher in the TIA positive group (p<0.05). The DIC occurred in 7 of 2 0 patients positive for TIA and 5 died of ARDS. In contrast, in the 14 TIA-negative subjects, only 1 patient experienced DIC and none died o f ARDS. Peripheral platelet counts, which had been rather elevated on the day of hospital admission, were below normal within 1 week of deat h in 40 percent of the 20 patients who were positive for TIA. These ob servations suggest that TIA may be responsible at least in part for th e increased activity of the coagulation system and the high incidence of DIC and ARDS in patients with advanced lung cancer.