[Use of antithrombin III concentrates].

Concentrates of antithrombin III (AT III) have been applied in congenital as well as in acquired AT III deficiency. Congenital defects only require substitution during surgery and in the case of pregnancy. Otherwise prophylaxis of thrombosis can be successfully carried out with oral anticoagulants. In acquired AT III deficiency substitution was found to be useful in cases of advanced DIC. When AT III activity was constantly kept around 100% the duration of DIC could be considerably shortened. No beneficial effect of additional administration of heparin was found. In cases of DIC due to septic shock the survival rate could be increased from an average of 20% without substitution to over 70% with AT III substitution as could be shown by different authors.