Citrate does not change viscoelastic haemostatic assays after cardiopulmonary bypass.

Context: Viscoelastic hemostatic assays (VHA) are commonly used to identify specific cellular and humoral causes for bleeding in cardiac surgery patients. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) alterations to coagulation are observable on VHA. Citrated VHA can approximate fresh whole blood VHA when kaolin is used as the activator in healthy volunteers.