Heparin dose and postoperative bleeding in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass.

Heparin is the most widely used anticoagulant for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Several authors suggest that lower doses of heparin during CPB would produce lower postoperative chest tube losses and fewer transfusion events. In the present study, a heparin dose-response (HDR) test was used to determine the heparin dose for each patient.