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Relative Insufficiency of the Fibrinolytic System in Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation

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Sepsis

Abstract

Experimental and clinical observations indicate that the systemic deposition of fibrin in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is insufficiently counteracted by endogenous fibrinolysis. In fact, a marked suppression of fibrinolytic activity, due to elevated levels of PAI-1, can be observed in experimental DIC as well as in patients with DIC from various causes. Relatively impaired plasmin generation is in dysbalance with enhanced thrombin generation and may contribute to the occurrence of systemic microvascular thrombosis and subsequent organ dysfunction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vascular Medicine and Internal Medicine, Netherlands

    Marcel Levi & Hugo ten Cate

  2. Laboratory of Experimental Internal Medicine, Netherlands

    Tom van der Poll & Hugo ten Cate

  3. Department of Intensive Care, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Evert de Jonge

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  1. Marcel Levi
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  2. Tom van der Poll
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  3. Evert de Jonge
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  4. Hugo ten Cate
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Levi, M., van der Poll, T., de Jonge, E. et al. Relative Insufficiency of the Fibrinolytic System in Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation. Sepsis 3, 119–124 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009847432281

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