Usefulness of coagulation markers in staging of gastric cancer

Thirty-six patients with nonmucinous adenocarcinoma of the stomach, candidates for surgical laparotomy, were studied to evaluate the presence and extent of coagulation disorders in gastric cancer. They were staged according to TNM cancer staging (T: extent of primary tumor; N: lymph node involvement; M: presence of metastases), and a blood sample was collected before surgery. Platelets, platelet factor four (PF4), beta-thromboglobulin (BTG), activated partial thromboplastine time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), factors five (V) and seven (VII), fibrinogen, cross-linked fibrin degradation products (XDP), fibrinopeptide-A (Fp-A), and antithrombin three (AT III) were assayed. Only fibrinogen, Fp-A, PF4, and factors V and VII were increased in more than 50% of patients. Fibrinogen and Fp-A were positively correlated with T(r = 0.29, p < p < 0.05; and r = 0.35, p < 0.05; respectively), whereas the other parameters did not show any statistically significant relationship with T, N, and M. Considering the subgroups including only the patients with pathological values, Fp-A (31 patients) was positively correlated with N (r = 0.4, p < 0.05), PF4 (25 patients) showed a positive correlation with T and N (r = 0.42, p < 0.05; r = 0.46, p < 0.05; respectively), and a significantly higher median in the presence than in the absence of metastases (median in the M+ subgroup: 42.7 ng/ml, range 38.6 to 102.8; median in the M- subgroup: 33.7, range 20.3 to 85; p < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)