Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine
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Many hematologists believe that anti-tumor drugs and platelet transfusion are enough for the treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) associated with myelogenous leukemia. In this paper, showing the pathophysiology of 3 types of DIC, I insisted the necessity of anticoagulant therapy to avoid the bleeding death or ischemic organ damage before achieving the hematological remission, because myelogenous leukemia is now a curable disease. In addition, I introduced the new Japan-made weapon to DIC, recombinant thrombomodulin, which complexes with thrombin and regulates the coagulation activity by efficient activation of protein C. Using two different natural anticoagulant systems, antithrombin and protein C pathway, we can more effectively improve DIC treatment and alleviate symptoms in DIC patients.