Thalidomide increases thrombin generation in multiple myeloma patients

7602 Background: Numerous reports have demonstrated that the clinical use of thalidomide (THAL) carries a risk for deep venous thrombosis. Only limited investigations into the causative mechanisms for this complication have been conducted. Thrombin generation is a global measurement of hyper or hypocoagulability that has not been used to examine the hypercoagulable state caused by THAL. The aim of this study was to determine if THAL affects thrombin generation in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Methods: MM patients on and off THAL were recruited. Patients were considered to be “on THAL” if they had been taking the medication for at least three months and “off THAL” if they had not been taking the medication for at least three months. Coagulation tubes of blood containing 3.2% sodium citrate were drawn from each patient. Platelet poor plasma was prepared from these specimens using standard technique. The samples were snap frozen at -70 C and stored until analysis. Thrombin generation was measured usin...