Abstract
Hemostatic function was studied serially in 25 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) receiving vincristine (VCR : day 1, 8, 15, 22), prednisolone (PDN : day 1-28 with tapered reduction), and L-asparaginase (L-Asp : day 22-31) as initial induction chemotherapy. As a result, L-Asp administration was followed by prolonged prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time, decreased plasma fibrinogen, antithrombin-III and plasminogen levels. The change in platelet counts and increase of fibrinogen degradation products in serum were not observed. These hemostatic abnormalities returned to normal within 2 weeks after completion of L-Asp. On the other hand, plasma fibrinogen levels decreased remarkably before L-Asp administration only with VCR and PDN treatment. Early in the induction chemotherapy, leukemic cell lysis was suspected to be related with the accelerated fibrinogen consumption and decrease in plasma fibrinogen level. But it is considered that VCR reduces the production of fibrinogen.
