Successful use of Samarium 153 for emergency treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation due to metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer

Intramuscular Bleeding Triggered by Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation with Enhanced Fibrinolysis in a Patient with Prostate Cancer

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is the most frequent coagulation disorder associated with solid tumors, including prostate cancer. We herein report a 76-year-old man who suffered from intramuscular bleeding of the right gluteus maximus. Laboratory data showed a pattern of DICwith enhanced fibrinolysis, and a general examination led to the diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer with multiple bone metastases. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing intramuscular bleeding as an initial manifestation of prostate cancer with DIC with enhanced fibrinolysis.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation following femoral nailing in a metastatic prostate carcinoma patient - A case report

Introduction

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare condition that is known to affect patients with metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma. In an unsuspecting orthopaedic surgeon, DIC could lead to significant morbidity and mortality. This article highlights another such case and discusses management strategies to help improve clinical outcomes for these patients.

Case

A 70-year-old male with metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma underwent prophylactic intramedullary nailing of an impending right femur pathological fracture. Surgery was uneventful, however postoperatively he was haemodynamically unstable with heavily soaked dressings. Laboratory investigations revealed DIC. Supportive treatment and correction of coagulopathy were undertaken. Ketoconazole was also initiated by Urology Services to treat the underlying condition of metastatic prostate carcinoma. Unfortunately, the patient responded poorly and passed away.

Conclusion

DIC is rarely encountered in orthopaedic surgery, but carries significant morbidity and mortality risks. Patients with risk factors, in particular metastatic cancer, should be screened for non-overt pre-DIC state and coagulopathies corrected preoperatively. Initiating treatment of underlying condition can be considered preoperatively in established non-overt DIC. Operative technique can also be modified to minimise risk of fat or tumour emboli. Early recognition, prompt resuscitation and timely treatment of underlying condition may be able to improve the outcomes in these patients.

Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation as an Initial Manifestation of Metastatic Prostate Cancer Emergently Treated with Docetaxel-Based Chemotherapy

A 70-year-old male presented with hematuria and bruising of arms and legs for the last three days. He also complained of urinary frequency and hesitancy and weight loss of 40 pounds over a span of four months. Initial blood tests showed prothrombin time (PT) of 25.1 seconds, international normalized ratio (INR) of 2.5, partial thromboplastin time (PTT) of 43.9 seconds, fibrinogen of 60 mg/dl, fibrin degradation products (FDP) of more than 20 μg/ml, and platelets of 88,000/μl. The impression was disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). A search was initiated to determine the underlying etiology precipitating DIC. Due to urinary symptoms and weight loss, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was ordered. PSA was elevated at 942 μg/dl. Computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen and pelvis without contrast showed an enlarged prostate with mass effect on the bladder base, left-sided hydronephrosis, and numerous enlarged pelvic lymph nodes. A bone scan of the whole body showed increased sclerosis of the L3 vertebral body. There was a concern for metastatic prostate cancer precipitating DIC. On first admission, our patient's DIC was stabilized with FFP and cryoprecipitate transfusions. He refused chemotherapy, and degarelix was not economically feasible. Accordingly, he was started on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), bicalutamide, and leuprolide as an inpatient, pending the tissue biopsy. The patient refused a prostate biopsy. A bone marrow biopsy was performed which confirmed metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma. The patient was stable for discharge with a plan for outpatient chemotherapy. Subsequently, he was lost to follow-up with the oncology. Six months after the initial presentation, he was readmitted with hematuria. Repeat PSA worsened to 1,970 μg/dl. Blood work was consistent with acute DIC. He refused chemotherapy again. So, he was restarted on ADT. However, his hematuria and DIC panel were worsening. He was emergently started on docetaxel as an inpatient (after patient agreement). Within three days of starting chemotherapy, his hematuria resolved and DIC panel showed consistent improvement.

Very fast recovery of acute disseminated intravascular coagulation with abiraterone acetate in a patient with bone metastases from castrate-resistant prostate cancer

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare, potentially life-threatening complication of advanced prostate carcinoma. We report the successful treatment with abiraterone acetate of acute DIC related to a progressive bone metastatic disease in a chemotherapy-naïve patient with castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

Acute renal failure as the presenting sign of disseminated intravascular coagulation in a patient with metastatic prostate cancer

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is the most frequent coagulation disorder in patients with prostate cancer. However, renal involvement in DIC associated with prostate cancer has rarely been documented. Herein, we present a case of metastatic prostate cancer presenting with acute renal failure (RF) triggered by DIC. An 80 year old man with metastatic prostate cancer was treated with antihormone therapy at an outpatient clinic. He was admitted to our hospital because of severe dyspnea and progressive RF. A hemorrhagic tendency was not clinically evident. Laboratory tests exhibited a significant coagulation disorder, suggestive of DIC. Despite treatment, his RF and dyspnea worsened, and he eventually passed away. An autopsy study revealed hypertensive nephrosclerosis superimposed by fibrin rich thrombi formation involving glomerular capillaries and arterioles characteristic of DIC. Additionally, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis was identified, which was presumably secondary to the glomerular endothelial and/or podocyte injury augmented by DIC. Those findings showed that glomerular injury, which was induced and subsequently exacerbated by DIC associated with prostate cancer, highly contributed to the progression of RF in our case. A differential diagnosis of DIC should be considered when a patient with prostate cancer presents with renal dysfunction.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation as the presenting sign of metastatic prostate cancer

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is an acquired coagulation disorder that may occur in a wide variety of clinical conditions. Suspicion of DIC should lead to a differential diagnosis that includes primary fibrinolysis and other bleeding diatheses such as thrombocytopenias of diverse etiology. Confirmation of the diagnosis of DIC should always prompt a search for an underlying medical disorder, including sepsis, severe trauma, solid and hematological malignancies, obstetrical complications, and vascular disorders. Here, we describe an unusual case of acute bleeding and DIC as the presenting manifestation of metastatic prostate cancer in a 60-year-old man. Treatment with a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist and a short course of an antiandrogen, together with supportive measures (i.e., clotting factors, heparin, and platelets), led to normalization of all coagulation parameters within 1 week, and to clinical improvement and decline in the serum level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). We discuss the pathogenesis, differential diagnosis, and association of DIC with prostate cancer along with the management of this condition.

[Prostate cancer. Treatment]

The discovery and the utilisation of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) that allows early diagnosis of prostate cancer, have considerably improved the management of this disease. Before the PSA era, prostate cancer was just a disease of the old man, generally detected at an advanced stage and incurable, with a fatal outcome delayed by the androgenic deprivation. Since early 1990's, prostate cancer has become primarily a disease of the man of 60 years, detectable earlier, and curable provided no extraprostatic dissemination has occurred. Early treatment of prostate cancer has benefited from important advances in surgical and radio-therapeutic techniques (conformational irradiation, brachytherapy), with, as principal goal, the combination of a better survival and the reduction of the potential adverse effects that alter quality of life. A better definition of the characteristics of the tumours in terms of progression regarding various parameters (clinical stage, PSA, tumoral differentiation) have resulted, despite the heterogeneity of the disease, in the determination of subgroups of tumours with different prognosis, which leads to an improved therapeutic strategy. The assessment of men's life expectancy (< or > 10 years) is the second primary parameter on which is based the indication for curative or non curative therapy in case of localized tumour. Roughly, before the age of 75, a curative therapy is indicated whereas after this age a surveillance is reasonable as first-line treatment, followed by hormone therapy in case of onset of symptoms indicating some progression of the disease (urinary symptoms, bone lesion). At a Later stage, in case of a metastatic or locally advanced cancer, hormone therapy by androgenic deprivation is highly indicated. The hormone sensitivity characterizes prostate cancer; it has been discovered more than 50 years ago by Charles Huggins (Nobel prize-winner). This hormone therapy is a palliative treatment since its efficacy is transient (ineluctable occurrence of hormone resistance in a variable time delay), but it constitutes an essential therapeutic means with a well-established efficacy. Hormone therapy has progressively improved, with the renunciation of oestrogen therapy and surgical castration which has been replaced by luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) analogues, and/ or anti-androgens. Numerous works have resulted in a better rationalization of the prescription (date of treatment initiation, interest of combined androgenic deprivation, ...) but uncertainties remain, such as the therapeutic interest of intermittent treatment, or of earlier hormone therapy combined with the treatment of the primitive tumour (adjuvant hormone therapy). Finally, at the time of the hormonal escape of which the molecular mechanisms remain unclear, no therapy has proven any efficacy in survival lengthening, and the treatment remains palliative and symptomatic. Although improved knowledge of prostate cancer aetiology is expected for a real disease prevention, early diagnosis at a curable stage of the disease (by PSA assessment) remains the only means for mortality reduction.