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NDT Advance Access originally published online on March 19, 2004
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Nephrol Dial Transplant (2004) 19: 1552-1558
Nephrol Dial Transplant Vol. 19 No. 6 © ERA-EDTA 2004; all rights reserved

Original Article

Factor Xa-activated whole blood clotting time (Xa-ACT) for bedside monitoring of dalteparin anticoagulation during haemodialysis

Rolf Dario Frank, Vincent M. Brandenburg, Regina Lanzmich and Jürgen Floege

Department of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Aachen, Germany

Correspondence and offprint requests to: Rolf Dario Frank, MD, Department of Nephrology, University Hospital Aachen, D-52057 Aachen, Germany. Email: dario.frank{at}ukaachen.de

Background. Low molecular weight heparins (LMWH) like dalteparin are increasingly used for anticoagulation during haemodialysis (HD). The available laboratory tests for monitoring LMWH anticoagulation are time-consuming and expensive, and the suitability of the conventional activated clotting time (ACT) is controversial. A simple and cheap bedside test would be useful.

Methods. We studied the factor Xa-activated whole blood clotting time (Xa-ACT) in vitro and in vivo in nine patients undergoing chronic HD with i.v. dalteparin bolus anticoagulation and compared it with the conventional ACT. Plasma anti-factor Xa (antiXa) activity was determined with a chromogenic assay. Thrombin–antithrombin complexes were measured to detect coagulation activation.

Results. Xa-ACT and ACT were prolonged with rising dalteparin concentration. In vitro, both clotting times were strongly correlated with the antiXa levels (r = 0.94 and 0.89, respectively). Nevertheless, compared with the ACT, the Xa-ACT was considerably more sensitive to the LMWH in vitro (healthy blood: Xa-ACT 90 s/U vs ACT 26 s/U; uraemic blood: Xa-ACT 96 s/U vs ACT 31 s/U) as well as in vivo (Xa-ACT 81 s/U vs ACT 22 s/U) and reflected different intensities of anticoagulation. An initial dalteparin bolus of 80±11 U/kg body weight was able to prevent coagulation activation for up to 4 h of HD.

Conclusion. For monitoring LMWH anticoagulation the Xa-ACT was superior to the conventional ACT in vitro as well as in vivo during HD. The Xa-ACT can be useful as a LMWH bedside test. The ACT was not sensitive enough to serve as a LMWH monitoring tool.

Keywords: activated clotting time; haemodialysis; low molecular weight heparin; monitoring


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