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Previous Volume 341:1937-1938 December 16, 1999 Number 25 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: In their excellent review of disseminated intravascular coagulation, Drs. Levi and ten Cate (Aug. 19 issue)¹ suggest that a test for fibrin-degradation products be used in the diagnosis. They do not recommend that the d-dimer assay should be part of the initial workup in a patient suspected of having disseminated intravascular coagulation. The d-dimer assay measures insoluble cross-linked fibrin liberated by plasmin, which a priori indicates that both thrombin and plasmin have been formed, a sine qua non for disseminated intravascular coagulation.²

The authors also place undue emphasis on examination of the peripheral-blood smear for evidence of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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