Superiority of bivalirudin over heparin anticoagulation therapy for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation? Too early to draw conclusions

ABSTRACT:

Background

We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of bivalirudin versus heparin as the anticoagulant in patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Methods

We conducted a search in PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library for all the studies in which bivalirudin was compared to heparin as the anticoagulant for ECMO. Efficacy outcomes were defined as the time to reach therapeutic levels, time within therapeutic range (TTR), thrombotic events, circuit thrombosis, circuit exchanges. Safety outcomes were reported as heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), major bleeding events, minor bleeding events. Other outcomes included hospital length of stay (LOS), ICU LOS, mortality, 30-day mortality and in-hospital mortality.

Results

Ten studies with 1

SUBMITTER: Gu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9970897 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature