Citation

Haas T, Innerhofer P, Kühbacher G, Fries D. Anesth. Analg. 2005; 100(1): 54-58.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, International Anesthesia Research Society, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1213/01.ANE.0000138064.12583.F6

PMID

15616051

Abstract

Effective treatment of severe or uncontrolled bleeding is a challenge for physicians in the operating room and intensive care unit. However, even aggressive conventional therapy may ultimately fail in some patients. Administration of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) may be the only remaining therapeutic option to stop life-threatening coagulopathic bleeding. We here describe the clinical course of 5 patients exhibiting severe continuous bleeding that could not be stopped by surgical intervention and appropriate hemostatic management but resolved after a mean dose of 90 microg/kg of rFVIIa (range, 90-120 microg/kg). Four of the five patients recovered completely, and one patient died after developing sepsis in multiorgan failure. In all patients, bleeding from wound surfaces stopped within minutes of the administration of rFVIIa. Coagulation measurements improved, and transfusion requirements declined considerably. No adverse effects associated with rFVIIa were observed.

Language: en

Keywords

Adult; Aged; Aorta; Aortic Valve Stenosis; Blood Coagulation Disorders; Blood Coagulation Tests; Blood Loss, Surgical; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic; Factor VIIa; Fatal Outcome; Female; Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation; Hemodynamics; Hemorrhage; Humans; Male; Marfan Syndrome; Middle Aged; Multiple Trauma; Postoperative Hemorrhage; Recombinant Proteins; Suicide, Attempted