This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Disseminated intravascular coagulation

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a conditon where the physiological generation of thrombin becomes unregulated.

A wide variety of triggers may cause release of thrombin into the circulation with consequent formation of microthrombi. It is these thrombi that cause tissue ischaemia and necrosis.

In an attempt to maintain vascular patency the fibrinolytic system becomes activated. Unregulated fibrinolysis and systemic fibrinogenolysis occurs with release of plasmin into the circulation.

The unregulated generation of thrombin and plasmin results in the thrombotic and haemorrhagic features of DIC.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page