Antithrombin III assay using thrombin in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), other thromboembolic disorders and hepatic diseases.

Fifty cases comprising 11 cases of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), 16 cases of venous thromboses and 23 cases of hepatic diseases were studied for AT III levels using clotting assay. Twelve samples were subjected to ATIII estimation by the commercially available synthetic chromogenic assay. Twenty age and sex matched controls were also analysed to find out the reference value for the techniques. Low AT III levels, if present, were correlated with other markers of DIC, viz FDP and D-dimer assays. There was a decrease in the AT III levels in all the three disease categories with a significant difference between the AT III levels of the three disease categories. In DIC, lowest levels were observed which correlated well with FDP and D-dimer levels. There was no significant difference between the average AT III levels measured by both the clotting and synthetic chromogenic assay with the former procedure being relatively inexpensive.