Use of ecarin clotting time (ECT) with lepirudin therapy in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and cardiopulmonary bypass.

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Fabrizio MC

Use of ecarin clotting time (ECT) with lepirudin therapy in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and cardiopulmonary bypass.

J Extra Corpor Technol. 2001 May;33(2):117-25.

PubMed ID

11467439 [ View in PubMed

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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.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Targets

Drug	Target	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Lepirudin	Prothrombin	Protein	Humans	Yes	Inhibitor	Details