Abstract
The present paper reports four cases of disseminated intravascular coagulation which were found in fifty autopsy cases with generalized carcinomas. In a female case with pancreatic carcinoma a shock episode occurred suddenly during the course of admission. She had a continuous fever and high level of amylase activity in serum and urine. The diagnosis of DIC was based upon lowered level of platelet count and prolongation of prothrombin time and euglobulin lysis time.
Two patients with gastric carcinoma showed severe microangiopathic hemolytic anemia in association with DIC. Intravascular fibrin strands and direct contact between red cells and tumor cells within the blood vessel were supposed to be the cause of red cell fragmentation. A female patient with gastric carcinoma, showed the thromboembolic episode in finger and toe. The pathological observation included polypoid friable vegetation consisting mainly of fibrin and platelet on the aortic and mitral valves and peripheral vascular thrombosis, characterized as non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis.
The clinical, laboratory and histopathological findings about these four cases of DIC were discussed.
