TF and breast carcinoma: Previous work has demonstrated a hypercoagulable state in breast cancer patients, with elevated markers of coagulation, including thrombin–antithrombin (TAT) (Falanga et al, 1998; Ozyilkan et al, 1998), fibrinogen (Miller and Heilmann, 1988), D-dimer (Blackwell et al, 2000; Oberhoff et al, 2000) and tissue factor (TF) (Lwaleed et al, 1999; Ueno et al, 2000).