Background: In recent years, minimally invasive liver resection has become a standard of care for liver tumors. Considering the need to treat increasingly fragile patients, general anesthesia is sometimes avoided due to respiratory complications. Therefore, surgical treatment with curative intent is abandoned in favor of a less invasive and less radical approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: During extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, the large contact surface between the blood and the extracorporeal circuit causes a continuous activation of coagulation and inflammation. Unfractionated heparin, a glycosaminoglycan that must bind to antithrombin as a cofactor, is currently the standard anticoagulant adopted during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Antithrombin, beyond being a potent natural anticoagulant, acts in the cross-talk between coagulation and inflammatory system through anticoagulation and coagulation-independent effects.
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