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Disseminated intravascular coagulation

Coagulatio intravasalis disseminata · Diseminovaná intravaskulární koagulace

What it is

Widespread activation of clotting provoked by sepsis, trauma, cancer or obstetric emergencies, which blocks small vessels while using up platelets and clotting factors, so the patient also bleeds.

Symptoms & signs

  • Oozing from drips and wounds
  • bruising, pinpoint bleeds
  • organ failure (kidneys, lungs)
  • cold blue fingers
  • bleeding gums

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Bleeding from gums, nose, drips or wounds that will not stop
  • call 112 / 911 now New widespread bruises or tiny red spots on the skin
  • call 112 / 911 now Cold, blue or painful fingers or toes
  • call 112 / 911 now Confusion, breathlessness or very little urine

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Platelets, prothrombin time, fibrinogen, D-dimer; ISTH score
  • treat the cause — the only real cure
  • platelets, plasma or cryoprecipitate when bleeding
  • heparin when clotting dominates
  • Antithrombin — no survival benefit, more bleeding (KyberSept) not confirmed in trials

Natural & lifestyle

  • Early treatment of infections
  • good obstetric care

Emerging & experimental

  • Recombinant thrombomodulin — used in Japan; no clear benefit in SCARLET mixed evidence
  • Activated protein C — withdrawn in 2011 after PROWESS-SHOCK not confirmed in trials

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Vitamin K — corrects a deficiency, not DIC itself mixed evidence
  • Herbal 'blood thinners' (ginkgo, garlic) — may worsen bleeding; avoid anecdotal / traditional

ICD codes