Fresh frozen plasma reduces thrombin formation in newborn infants

Background: Newborn infants undergoing intensive care are at risk of bleeding and thrombotic complications. Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) is used in hope of preventing these complications, despite poorly defined effects on the coagulation system and lack of proven clinical efficacy. Objectives and methods: We prospectively evaluated coagulopathy and the effect of standardized amount of FFP transfusion (10 mL kg−1 + 4 mL in 2 h) on various coagulation markers in 33 newborn infants during the first 24 h of intensive care. Results: Increased levels of prothrombin fragment F1+2, thrombin–antithrombin complexes (TAT), and d‐dimer were found prior to the transfusion in 97%, 81%, and 100% of the patients, respectively. FFP transfusion was associated with a decrease in F1+2 level in 26/32 (81%) of the patients. The extent of F1+2 decrease correlated with the pretransfusion F1+2 level (R = 0.65, P