Disseminated intravascular coagulation with the fibrinolytic phenotype predicts the outcome of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

BACKGROUND: We tested the hypothesis that disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) during the early phase of post-cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is associated with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and affects the outcome of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients. METHODS: A review of the computer-based medical records of OHCA patients was retrospectively conducted and included 388 patients who were divided into DIC and non-DIC patients based on the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine DIC diagnostic criteria. DIC patients were subdivided into two groups: those with and without hyperfibrinolysis. Pre-hospital factors, platelet count, coagulation and fibrinolysis markers and lactate levels within 24 h after resuscitation were evaluated. The outcome measure was all-cause hospital mortality. RESULTS: DIC patients exhibited lower platelet counts, prolonged prothrombin time, decreased levels of fibrinogen and antithrombin associated with increased fibrinolysis than those without DIC. DIC patients more frequently developed SIRS and MODS, followed by worse outcomes than non-DIC patients. The same changes were observed in DIC patients with hyperfibrinolysis who showed a higher prevalence of MODS, leading to worse outcome than those without hyperfibrinolysis. Logistic regression analyses showed that lactate levels predicted hyperfibrinolysis and DIC is an independent predictor of patient death. Survival probabilities of DIC patients during hospital stay were significantly lower than non-DIC patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of DIC for the prediction of death was 0.704. CONCLUSIONS: The fibrinolytic phenotype of DIC during the early phase of post-CPR more frequently results in SIRS and MODS, especially in patients with hyperfibrinolysis, and affects the outcome of OHCA patients. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12959-016-0116-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.