[Abnormalities of blood coagulation and effect of anticoagulant therapy in postoperative patients with lung cancer].
- 1 June 1986
- journal article
- abstracts
- Vol. 87 (6) , 697-703
Abstract
To evaluate coagulable state, beta-thromboglobulin (beta-TG) levels have been followed sequentially in 70 postoperative patients with lung cancer. Nineteen out of them were treated with warfarin plus ticlopidine at a dosage enough to prolong the thrombo-test time to approximately 20% of normal value. There was a significant rise in beta-TG compared with control subjects and beta-TG was correlated with stages of disease. Serial beta-TG determinations revealed that beta-TG and CEA levels fairly paralleled with each other which suggested beta-TG might be useful in following tumor progression or response to therapy in postoperative period. As to the relation between beta-TG levels and five-year survivals, patients whose beta-TG were under 50 ng/ml showed more favorable prognoses than those who had higher levels. Long term anticoagulation with warfarin plus ticlopidine reduced the beta-TG levels of 19 stage 3 or 4 patients, especially in stage 4 the rate of reduction was marked. Nineteen patients with anticoagulant-treated group demonstrated a more prolonged time from beginning of treatment to first evidence of disease progression than 18 non-treated patients. Also anticoagulant-treated group had a more prolonged clinical course than non-treated group after disease progression. These results might be associated with disease stabilization which achieved with anticoagulant therapy. Survival at 30 months after initiation of treatment was 74% in the treated group and 64% in the nontreated group. Although there was no statistical difference in two groups, survival of treated group exceeded that of the non-treated group throughout the observation period. In stage 4 patients, however, the difference between two groups was statistically significant.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: