Homocysteine and prothrombin fragment 1+2 levels in patients with veno-occlusive disease after stem cell transplantation.

Veno-occlusive disease (VOD) of the liver remains a major complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). VOD is thought to develop after hepatic endothelial cells are damaged by high-dose chemotherapy or radiation, causing microthrombosis in hepatic venules. However, the precise mechanisms leading to VOD are not well defined, and a diagnosis is often difficult to establish. It is also difficult to predict which patients are most likely to develop VOD. Elevated levels of homocysteine (HC) have been associated with thrombosis, and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2) is a measurable marker for coagulation. Therefore, we performed a prospective cohort study to determine if HC or F1 + 2 levels could be used to predict the development of VOD prior to SCT, or to help establish a diagnosis of VOD in association with other clinical parameters. Plasma levels of these factors were measured before conditioning and serially for 21 days after SCT in 42 consecutive patients undergoing SCT. Eleven of 26 allogeneic SCT recipients developed VOD, whereas no autologous SCT recipient (n = 16) developed VOD (p = 0.008). In patients who developed VOD, HC levels were consistently higher than those seen in non-VOD patients after day 7 of SCT. Patients with VOD also had higher levels of F1 + 2 after SCT, although this marker was less consistently elevated over time. A logistic regression model that evaluated all serial measures of HC and F1 + 2 showed a moderate sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing VOD in allogeneic SCT patients, but neither marker was useful to predict development of VOD when tested prior to SCT.