title: Use of ecarin clotting time (ECT) with lepirudin therapy in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and cardiopulmonary bypass.
abstract: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is described as an allergy-like adverse reaction to heparin. It is a potentially severe complication of heparin therapy that can result in serious or life-threatening venous or arterial thromboembolic events. In the United States, lepirudin (Aventis Pharma AG, Strasbourg, France) is an approved therapy for anticoagulation in patients with HIT requiring anticoagulation. Lepirudin is a recombinant form of hirudin, a leech enzyme that is a highly specific direct inhibitor of thrombin. Lepirudin monitoring during surgery can be managed with ecarin clotting time (ECT) (Cardiovascular Diagnostics, Inc., Raleigh, NC), which has recently been approved as a humanitarian device exemption (HDE) for use in the United States in the management of HIT with cardiopulmonary bypass. This case report describes a patient with HIT who was managed successfully with lepirudin and ECT during coronary artery bypass grafting.
authors.affiliation: UPMC Presbyterian Perfusion Services Department, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. fabriziomc@msx.upmc.edu
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fabrizio
mesh_terms: D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000097:blood*; D006493:Heparin / Q000009:adverse effects*; D024764:Hirudin Therapy; D006629:Hirudins / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010414:Pennsylvania; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000139:chemically induced*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D006629:Hirudins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D006493:Heparin; D010450:Endopeptidases; C020097:ecarin; C083544:lepirudin