Effect of Methylxanthines on Blood Coagulation

Nonnenbruch and Szysaka quoted by Scherf and Schlackman (1946), demonstrated that intravenous injection of Theophylline Ethylenediamine increased the coagulability of blood in the rabits to a marked degree. Later on, other workers, notably Addicks and Meissner, again quoted by the same authors confirmed these observations both in animals and man, and as a result of these findings the drug was recommended as a coagulant in cases with hemorrhagic diatheses. It was postulated that it was Ethylenediamine which was primarily responsible for that effect. Field et al. (1944), however, later on showed that Methylxanthines (Theophylline, Theobromine and Caffeine) exert a distinct effect on the prothrombin time and shorten it to a degree which may have clinical importance. More recently Scherf and Schlack-