Clinical experience with the use of charcoal haemoperfusion: is prostacyclin required?

Twenty patients have undergone a total of 47 charcoal haemoperfusions without the use of prostacyclin. A fall in platelet numbers and evidence of platelet activation have been found during haemoperfusion but few clinical complications have been observed. Therefore, we believe that the clinical value of the addition of prostacyclin during charcoal haemoperfusion has not been proven. Nevertheless, its apparent protective effect on platelet numbers and activation indicates that further controlled trials of the use of prostacyclin during charcoal haemoperfusion are required.