Challenges with Navigating the Precarious Hemostatic Balance during Extracorporeal Life Support: Implications for Coagulation and Transfusion Management

For the past four decades, extracorporeal life support (ECLS) has been used to treat critically ill adult and pediatric patients with cardiac and/or respiratory failure, and there are increasingly numbers of centers worldwide performing ECLS for numerous indications. Despite the progress with advancing the technology, hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications are frequently reported and associated with worse outcomes, but the exact cause is often elusive or multifactorial. As a result of the interaction between blood and an artificial circuit, anticoagulation is necessary and there is resultant activation of coagulation, fibrinolysis, as well as, an increased inflammatory response.
Source: Transfusion Medicine Reviews - Category: Hematology Authors: Source Type: research