Efficacy of Bivalirudin for Therapeutic Anticoagulation in COVID-19 Patients Requiring ECMO Support
Trigonis R, Smith N, Porter S, Anderson E, Jennings M, Kapoor R, Hage C, Moiz S, Garcia J, Rahman O (2021) · Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia · n=42
Study Profile
- Design
- single-center retrospective case-control study (Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, June 2019-June 2020)
- Sample size (n)
- 42
- Intervention
- Bivalirudin therapeutic anticoagulation in COVID-19 ARDS patients on venovenous ECMO (n=19)
- Comparator
- Bivalirudin anticoagulation in non-COVID ARDS ECMO patients (n=23)
- Primary endpoint
- Time at goal activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and bivalirudin dose requirements
- Primary result
- COVID-19 ECMO patients maintained goal aPTT more consistently (86% vs 74%, p<0.01); required higher median daily bivalirudin (3.1 vs 2.4 μg/kg/min, p=0.05); no difference in bleeding or thrombosis between groups
- Follow-up duration
- ECMO run duration
- PMID
- 34782234
Key Findings
- COVID-19 ECMO required ~30% higher daily bivalirudin doses than non-COVID controls
- Goal aPTT maintained more consistently in COVID-19 patients (86% vs 74%)
- No difference in bleeding or thrombotic complications between cohorts
- Suggests COVID-19 hypercoagulability alters bivalirudin dosing requirements
- Supports bivalirudin as feasible anticoagulant in COVID-19 ECMO
Limitations
- Retrospective single-center design
- Small sample size (n=42) limits subgroup analysis
- Confounded by COVID-19 era practice changes
- Case-control rather than RCT
- Not applicable to whole-leech hirudotherapy
Clinical Implications
Trigonis 2021 anchors COVID-19 era ECMO bivalirudin dosing precedent. For ASH, the case-control study reinforces that the pharmaceutical thrombin inhibitor pathway operates under retrospective hypothesis-generating evidence in critical care, structurally distinct from the K040187 device-leech US clinical practice for venous congestion. The COVID-19 hypercoagulability finding has no direct parallel in routine hirudotherapy applications.
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