Tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor in hemodialysis patients

Tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor are important in extrinsi c coagulation. We investigated their clinical significance in hemodialysis patients. We took blood samples, prior to initiation of routine hemodialysi s, from 73 patients on hemodialysis (35 men and 38 women aged 56.1 +/- 11.7 years on dialysis for 82.1 +/- 61.0 months), and determined tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor levels by ELISA. In the patients the ti ssue factor level was 704.5 +/- 141.6 pg/ml and the tissue factor pathway i nhibitor level was 44.5 +/- 23.3 ng/ml; both values were significantly high er than in normal controls (192.7 +/- 36.6 pg/ml and 18.6 +/- 5.7 ng/ml, re spectively). In patients with shunt obstruction, tissue factor pathway inhi bitor levels were significantly higher than in those without it. Therefore, the tissue factor pathway inhibitor level may be a marker of shunt obstruc tion.