Thrombophlebitis, Blood Coagulation, and Pancreatic Disease

Abstract

The association of pancreatic cancer and recurring thrombophlebitis was first recorded by Trousseau.¹In 1934, Sproul,²from a careful and extensive study of postmortem material, stressed the unusually high frequency of thrombophlebitis in malignant diseases of the body and tail of the pancreas. This finding has been corroborated by the investigations of Kenny³and others,* but the pathogenesis of the relationship has remained obscure. The most commonly suggested etiological mechanism has related the thrombophlebitis to alterations in blood coagulation. Changes in the blood coagulation mechanism have been noted by many observers, usually in connection with studies of experimental and clinical pancreatitis.† Blood coagulation alterations have also been recorded in patients with pancreatic cancer and have been stressed recently by Shingleton⁸and Innerfield,⁹who introduced laboratory diagnostic procedures based upon them. Shingleton, using his paritol blood coagulation test technique, noted that an increased blood clotting reaction