Point of care management of heparin administration after heart surgery

Objectives Determination of activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) is used in coagulation management after heart surgery. Results from the central laboratory take long to be obtained. We sought to shorten the time to obtain coagulation results and the desired coagulation state and to reduce blood loss and transfusions using point of care (POC) aPTT determination.Design Randomized, controlled trial.Setting University-affiliated 20-bed surgical ICU.Patients and participants Forty-two patients planned for valve surgery (Valves) and 84 for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with cardiopulmonary bypass.Interventions Valves and CABG were randomized to postoperative coagulation management monitored either by central laboratory aPTT (Lab group) or by POC aPTT (POC group). Heparin was administered according to guidelines.Measurements and results POC aPTT results were available earlier than Lab aPTT after venipuncture in Valves (3 ± 2 vs. 125 ± 68 min) and in CABG (3 ± 4 vs. 114 ± 62 min). Heparin was introduced earlier in the POC group in Valves (7 ± 23 vs. 13 ± 78 h, p = 0.01). Valves of the POC group bled significantly less than Valves in the Lab group (647 ± 362 ml vs. 992 ± 647ml, p < 0.04), especially during the first 8 h after ICU admission. There was no difference in bleeding in CABG (1074 ± 869 ml vs. 1102 ± 620, p = NS). In Valves, fewer patients in the POC group than in the Lab group needed blood transfusions (1/21 vs. 8/21; p = 0.03). No difference was detected in CABG.Conclusions In Valves in the POC group the time to the desired coagulation state was reduced, as was the thoracic blood loss, reducing the number of patients transfused. This improvement was not observed in CABG. Side effects were similar in the two groups.Electronic supplementary material The electronic reference of this article is . The online full-text version of this article includes electronic supplementary material. This material is available to authorised users and can be accessed by means of the ESM button beneath the abstract or in the structured full-text article. To cite or link to this article you can use the above reference.Presented in part at the annual congress of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) in Amsterdam, 6–8 October 2003.