Disseminated intravascular coagulation (dic)

[Couch Potatoe]

Disseminated intravascular coagulation is a condition in which small blood clots develop throughout the bloodstream, blocking small blood vessels. The increased clotting depletes the platelets and clotting factors needed to control bleeding, causing excessive bleeding.

There are a number of possible causes, including infection, surgery, and complications of childbirth.
Excessive clotting is followed by excessive bleeding.
The amount of clotting factors in the blood is measured.
The underlying disorder is treated.

(See also Overview of Blood Clotting Disorders.)
Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) begins with excessive clotting. The excessive clotting is usually stimulated by a substance that enters the blood as part of a disease (such as an infection or certain cancers) or as a complication of childbirth, retention of a dead fetus, or surgery. People who have a severe head injury or who have tissue damage caused by shock, burns, frostbite, other injuries, or even a bite by a poisonous snake are also at risk. As the clotting factors and platelets (cell fragments that circulate in the bloodstream and help blood clot) are depleted, excessive bleeding occurs.
DIC may develop

Suddenly
Slowly

Slowly developing disseminated intravascular coagulation typically results from cancer, aneurysms, or cavernous hemangiomas (collections of dilated blood vessels).