OBJECTIVETo investigate the influence of thrombelastography index changes on its sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in children.

METHODSA total of 149 children with DIC in our hospital from June 2013 to June 2016 were selected in DIC group, while 106 cases of non-DIC, including healthy children and children with diseases easily confused with DIC, were selected as non-DIC(control) group. The thrombelastography, D-dimer, coagulation functions including prothrombintime (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (FIB) and fibin degradation product (FDP), congental coagulation disorders and platelet count were detected in DIC and non-DIC groups; the statistics of data was performed and the sensitivity and specificity of thromelastraphy indexes such as R time, α angle MA value and A value were evaluated; the relationship of DIC with indexes was analyzed. Moreover, the result difference of thromelastography and routine coagulation function test was compared at diagnosis of DIC.

RESULTSAccording to statistical analysis of clinical data in 2 groups, the average R time in non-DIC group was significantly less than that in DIC group (P<0.05); the average α angle in non-DIC group was larger than that in DIC group (P<0.05), both the MA and A values in the non-DIC group were significantly higher than those in DIC group (P<0.05). The specificity of routine coagulation function test for diagnosis of DIC was as follow: PT-27.2%, APTT-42.2%, international normalized ratio(INR)-47.9%, FIB-44.4%, FDP-42.7% and D-dimer-68.3%, which were significantly lower than that of R time,α angle and MA value for diagnosis of DIC (85.1%, 74.1% and 73%). The α angle and MA value of healthy children were greater than those of children with severe liver disease(P<0.05). while the average R time of healthy children was less than that of children with severe liver disease(P<0.05), but the difference of A value between them did not statistically significant (P>0.05) . The average R time of healthy children was less than that of children with congenital coagulation disorders (P<0.05). but there was no significant differences in α angle MA and Avalues between them.

CONCLUSIONAs compared with routine coagulation function test, the thrombelastography shows more high specificity for diagnosis of DIC, and can more precisely diagnose the DIC; moreover, the thrombelastography combined with roatime coagulation function test can more early find and diagnose the DIC in children, therefore it can improve the survival rate of children with DIC.