Antithrombin During Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Adults: National Survey and Retrospective Analysis

The impact of antithrombin replacement during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in adults remains unclear. This work comprises a survey, showing that antithrombin is routinely supplemented in many Italian ECMO-Centers, and a retrospective analysis on 66 adults treated with veno-venous ECMO and unfractionated heparin at our Institution. Twenty-four to 72 h after the beginning of ECMO, antithrombin activity was ≤70% in 47/66 subjects and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) ratio was