J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 87(6): 697-703, 1986

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Original article

ABNORMALITIES OF BLOOD COAGULATION AND EFFECT OF ANTI-COAGULANT THERAPY IN POSTOPERATIVE PATIENTS WITH LUNG CANCER

To evaluate coagulable state, beta-thromboglobulin (β-TG) levels have been followed sequentially in 70 postoperative patients with lung cancer. Nineteen out of them were treated with warfarin plus ticlopidine at a dosage enough to prolong the thrombo-test time to approximately 20％ of normal value, There was a significant rise in β-TG compared with control subjects and β-TG was correlated withstages of disease. Serial β-TG determinations revealed that β-TG and CEA levels fairly pararelled with each other which suggested β-TG might be useful in following tumor progrresion or response to therapy in postoperative period. As to the relation between β-TG levels and five-year survivals, patients whose β-TG were under 50ng/ml showed more favorable prognoses than those who had higher levels.
Long term anticoagulation with warfarin plus ticlopidine reduced the β-TG levels of 19 stage 3 or 4 patients, especially in stage 4 the rate of reduction was marked.
Nineteen patients with anticoagulant-treated group demonstrated a more prolonged time from beginning of treatment to first evidence of disease progression than 18 non-treated patients. Also anticoagulant-treated group had a more prolonged clinical course than non-treated group after disease progression. These results might be associated with disease stabilization which achieved with anticoagulant therapy.
Survival at 30 months after initiation of treatment was 74％ in the treated group and 64％ in the nontreated group. Although there was no statistical difference in two groups, survival of treated group exceeded that of the non-treated group throughout the observation period. In stage 4 patients, however, the difference between two groups was statistically significant.

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