“…It must be recognized, however, that in vivo action of heparin also depends on the availability of antithrombin III. This may be decreased in several clinical conditions, such as septicemia, pancreatitis, metastatic carcinoma, acute hepatic failure, liver cirrhosis, and also may be progressively consumed during DIC [8,31,35,73,104]. Heparin may furthermore be neutralized by the release of platelet factor 4 from platelets disintegrating during DIC [101,159].…”