A contribution to the pathology of acquired plasma factor XIII deficiency

The biologic activity of Factor XIII was measured in four groups of patients: 20 with liver cirrhosis, ten with acute DIC, 30 with acute leukemia with DIC, and 20 with acute leukemia without DIC. In all groups, the plasma Factor XIII transamidating activity was reduced, but this deficiency was more evident in patients with DIC alone or with leukemia and DIC. The immunologic determination of the a and b subunits of Factor XIII was also performed. Both subunits were below the normal range in the groups of patients studied, except for subunit b, which was normal in patients with leukemia without coagulopathy. Acute DIC patients showed an equally reduced level of both subunits, whereas in patients with leukemia, even in the presence of a complicating coagulopathy, a lesser decrease of subunit b than subunit a was found. Both subunits were equally reduced in patients with cirrhosis, suggesting an impaired synthesis of these proteins. In conclusion, our findings do not support the use of Factor XIII subunit measurements in distinguishing between thrombin- or protease-mediated consumption coagulopathy, and they seem to suggest that the deficiency pattern of the subunits is not accounted for by a simple pathogenetic mechanism.