Comparison of Extracorporeal Life Support Anticoagulation Using Activated Clotting Time Only to a Multimodal Approach...

To evaluate an institutional practice change from an extracorporeal life support (ECLS) anticoagulation monitoring strategy of activated clotting time (ACT) alone to a multimodal strategy including ACT, activated partial thrombin time, heparin anti-factor-Xa, and thromboelastography.

This was a retrospective review of patients younger than 18 years on ECLS and heparin between January 2014 and June 2020 at a single institution.

Twenty-seven patients used an ACT-directed strategy and 25 used a multimodal strategy. The ACT-directed group was on ECLS for a shorter median duration than the multimodal group (136 versus 164 hours; p = 0.046). There was a non-significant increase in major hemorrhage (85.1% versus 60%; p = 0.061) and a significantly higher incidence of central nervous system (CNS) hemorrhage in the ACT-directed group (29.6% versus 0%; p = 0.004). Rates of thrombosis were similar, with a median of 3 circuit changes per group (p = 0.921). The ACT-directed group had larger median heparin doses (55 versus 34 units/kg/hr; p < 0.001), required more dose adjustments per day (3.8 versus 1.7; p < 0.001), and had higher rates of heparin doses >50 units/kg/hr (62.9% versus 16%; p = 0.001). More anticoagulation parameters were supratherapeutic (p = 0.015) and fewer were therapeutic (p < 0.001) in the ACT-directed group.

Patients with a multimodal strategy for monitoring anticoagulation during ECLS had lower rates of CNS hemorrhage and decreased need for large heparin doses of >50 units/kg/hr without an increase in clotting complications, compared with ACT-directed anticoagulation. Multimodal anticoagulation monitoring appears superior to ACT-only strategies and may reduce heparin exposure and risk of hemorrhagic complications for pediatric patients on ECLS.