Chronic DIC

The common causes of chronic disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) include:

• adenocarcinoma:
  • a low grade DIC characteristically results in thrombophlebitis migrans and recurrent venous thromboembolism (Trousseau's syndrome)
  • the mechanism of DIC includes tissue damage, secretion of tissue factor or secretion of other procoagulants
    
    
• retained dead foetus syndrome:
  • initially this is a low grade DIC
  • fulminant DIC will inevitably follow if the uterus is not evacuated
    
    
• liver disease:
  • coagulopathy is characteristic of liver disease - DIC may play a part
    
    
• localised lesions:
  • aneurysms
  • haemangiomata (Kasabach-Meritt syndrome)
  • empyema