Plasma levels of D-dimer and soluble fibrin polymer in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a possible predictor of tumor thrombosis

INTRODUCTION: Fibrin formation and removal occurs continuously during the development of malignancy. Moreover, plasma D-dimer is indicative of ongoing fibrinolysis, and soluble fibrin polymer (Thrombus precursor protein, TpP) represents thrombogenic activity. We evaluated the relationship between the levels of plasma D-dimer and TpP and tumor thrombosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and examined these markers as possible predictors of tumor thrombus in the portal or the hepatic vein. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plasma levels of D-dimer and TpP were measured in 66 HCC patients (38 without tumor thrombosis, 28 with tumor thrombosis) and 29 healthy controls, by enzyme immunoassay using an Asserachrom D-Di kit (Diagnostica Stago, France) and a TpP kit (American Biogenetic Sciences, USA). RESULTS: The plasma levels of D-dimer and TpP in HCC patients were found to be significantly higher than those in healthy controls, and these values were also significantly higher in patients with tumor thrombosis than those without tumor thrombosis. Positive D-dimer (>367 ng/ml) correlated weakly with the presence of tumor thrombosis, whereas positive TpP (>5.4 microg/ml) correlated strongly with the presence of tumor thrombosis. By multivariant logistic analysis, positive TpP level was found to be a significant predictor of the presence of tumor thrombosis. In contrast, positive D-dimer level was not found to be a significant predictor for predicting tumor thrombosis. CONCLUSIONS: Increased D-dimer and TpP levels in HCC may suggest that fibrinolysis and coagulation occur continuously during tumor progression. This study shows that a positive TpP level is a predictor of tumor thrombosis in HCC, which suggests that TpP may be useful for identifying tumor thrombus in the portal and hepatic veins.