Comparison of Activated Coagulation Time Between Hemochron Jr and ACT Plus During Cardiac Surgery for Patient Using Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution

Measurement of activated clotting time (ACT) is a standard method for anticoagulation monitoring. Especially in cardiac surgery, heparin is usually used as anticoagulant and protamine is used to reverse anticoagulation effect at the end of surgery. ACT method defines the time until a clot is formed in a test tube after triggering of internal pathway coagulation using blood activating agents (eg. kaolin).

Acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) consists of withdrawing patient's blood volume early in the operative period and concurrent infusion of crystalloid or colloid to maintain intravascular volume, and is used in cardiac surgery. ANH is known to affect hemostasis in some studies.

Assuming that accurate monitoring of coagulation therapy is important to prevent both thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications, we compared ACT results from 2 analysers (Hemochron Jr and ACT Plus) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery using ANH.