title: Assessment of the usefulness of antithrombin-III in the management of disseminated intravascular coagulation in obstetrically Ill patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to analyze the antithrombin-III (AT-III) activity in the serum in relation to other laboratory findings, including the serum albumin, total protein (TP), and uric acid (UA), and to assess the recovery of the AT-III activity in the serum after its administration in obstetrically ill patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 27 patients who were diagnosed to have disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) based on the obstetric DIC scores were reviewed and the relationships between the activity of AT-III in the serum and other laboratory findings were evaluated. The effect of administration of AT-III on the recovery of AT-III activity in the serum was also evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the patients survived without any sequelae. The mean obstetric DIC score was 11.1 ± 3.1 (range 8-19) and the mean blood loss during the first 24 hours was 3798 ± 3,435 mL (range 480-16 208 mL). There was a significant correlation between the serum AT-III activity before the treatment and the serum albumin (r = .67, P = .001) and TP (r = .59, P = .021), but not serum UA. Seven patients required over 3000 IU of AT-III concentrate to obtain an increase in the serum AT-III activity to over 70%. The UA level in this group was significantly higher than that in the remaining patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The serum AT-III activity was correlated with the serum albumin level before the start of treatment. Therefore, measurement of the serum albumin level before and during treatment is helpful.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Japan.
authors.forename: Aiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitani
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Makino
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000990:Antithrombin III / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004211:Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D012709:Serum Albumin; D014527:Uric Acid; D000990:Antithrombin III