Institutional Anticoagulation Protocol for Septic DIC is Associated with Differences in In-Hospital Mortality. J-SEPTIC DIC STUDY (A Nationwide Registry Study)

Background: We analyzed data from Japanese nationwide registry study of severe sepsis/septic shock to determine the influence of institutional treatment protocol, which has not been evaluated, on in-hospital mortality rate in septic DIC. Methods: From among all sepsis patients (n=3193), we selected those (n=1856) diagnosed with DIC according to the JAAM criteria, then divided them into three groups depending on DIC treatment protocol: patients admitted to hospitals providing basically no anti-coagulation therapy (NO-TX group: n=287); those admitted to hospitals routinely providing such treatment (anti-thrombin concentrate and/or rh-thrombomodulin or other anti-coagulants such as heparin/heparinoids: DO-TX group: n=1202); and those admitted to hospitals providing treatment at the discretion of the physician-in-charge (DEP-TX group: n=446). Results: In DIC patients only, in-hospital mortality was much higher in the NO-TX group (46.2%) than in the DO-TX group (34.1%) despite comparable APACHE II scores. The hazard ratio (HR) of mortality was much lower in the DO-TX group (0.76, 95% CI: 0.61-0.96) than in the NO-TX group (set at 1.0). When non-DIC subjects whose records contained complete information on JAAM and ISTH scores were also included (n=2513), however, different treatment protocols were no longer associated with differences in HR. Nevertheless, in-hospital mortality rates still differed among the three groups even after non-DIC patients were included. Conclusions: Thus, the present results support the use of anti-coagulation treatments for septic DIC and suggest that outcomes are affected by other institutional factors besides anti-coagulation protocol, such as an institutional approach to sepsis. The mechanisms underlying this effect should be clarified.

Clinical course and outcome of disseminated intravascular coagulation diagnosed by Japanese Association for Acute Medicine criteria

SummaryThe Japanese Association for Acute Medicine (JAAM) disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) study group recently announced new diagnostic criteria for DIC. These criteria have been prospectively validated and demonstrated to progress to overt DIC as defined by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH).Although an underlying condition is essential for the development of DIC, it has never been clarified if patients with different underlying disorders have a similar course. Among 329 patients with DIC diagnosed by the JAAM criteria, those with underlying sepsis (n=98) or trauma (n=95) were compared. The 28-day mortality rate was significantly higher in sepsis patients than trauma patients (34.7% vs. 10.5%, p<0.0001).Within three days of fulfilling the JAAM criteria, sepsis patients had a lower platelet count, higher prothrombin time ratio, higher systemic inflammatory response syndrome score, and higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score compared with trauma patients. On day 3, a significantly higher percentage of trauma patients than sepsis patients showed improvement of DIC (64.2% vs. 30.6%, p<0.001).These differences were mainly due to patients with lower JAAM DIC scores. More than 50% of the JAAM DIC patients with sepsis who died within 28 days could not be detected by ISTH DIC criteria during the initial three days. In contrast, most trauma patients who died within 28 days had DIC simultaneously diagnosed by JAAM and ISTH criteria, except for those with brain death. These findings suggest that coagulation abnormalities, organ dysfunction, and the outcome of JAAM DIC differ between patients with sepsis and trauma.