Coagulation inhibition and activation in pancreatic cancer. Changes during progress of disease

To elucidate the disturbed hemostatic balance in patients with pancreatic cancer, the levels of plasma coagulation inhibition and coagulation activation were determined.

Twenty-one patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were followed from time of diagnosis until death, using plasma analyses of coagulation inhibitors and a molecular marker of coagulation activation (thrombin-antithrombin complex, TAT).

TAT was increased significantly at the time of diagnosis of pancreatic cancer compared with age-adjusted healthy control subjects (mean, 6.2 +/- 4.6 micrograms/l [standard deviation] versus 2.0 +/- 0.7 micrograms/l). It increased with disease progression (mean in the terminal phase, 14.1 micrograms/l; P < 0.05). Plasma levels of tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) also were increased significantly at the time of diagnosis compared with the control group (mean, 176 +/- 80% versus 127 +/- 29%; P < 0.05). The TFPI decreased to normal levels (121 +/- 40%) after surgical removal of the pancreatic tumor (n = 4) or relief of the cholestasis using a bypass procedure (n = 6). The TFPI levels increased significantly as the malignant disease progressed (from 1-3 months postoperatively to the terminal phase of disease; mean, 114 +/- 52% versus 154 +/- 60%). There was a significant positive correlation between TFPI levels and bilirubin levels; the correlation coefficient at diagnosis was 0.70 (P < 0.001). The levels of the coagulation inhibitors antithrombin, heparin cofactor II, protein C, and free protein S decreased significantly with disease progression compared with the normal values found at diagnosis.

The mechanism for TFPI increase in cancer is not known. It may be related to the preoperative cholestasis seen in this study, but the increased degree of coagulation activation also may contribute.