An assessment of clinical interchangeability of TEG and RoTEM thromboelastographic variables in cardiac surgical patients.

Background: Bedside thromboelastography is increasingly used, but an assessment of the clinical interchangeability of the 2 major systems, TEG (Hemoscope) and RoTEM (Pentapharm), has not been performed.

Methods: We measured blood samples from 46 cardiac surgical patients after induction of anesthesia with kaolin TEG(R) (kaoTEG), native TEG(R) (natTEG), intrinsic RoTEM (inTEM), and extrinsic RoTEM (exTEM). Each measurement consisted of reaction time (R), coagulation time (K), maximum amplitude (MA), and angle (alpha).