Pediatric catheterization laboratory anticoagulation with bivalirudin.

Background: Pediatric physicians regularly face the problem of uncertain procedural anticoagulation in children, especially in neonates. We sought to evaluate the safety, plasma concentration (pharmacokinetics, PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), and dosing guidelines of bivalirudin when used as a procedural anticoagulant in pediatric percutaneous intravascular procedures.

Methods And Results: Pediatric subjects undergoing percutaneous intravascular procedures for congenital heart disease were enrolled and received the current weight-based dose used in percutaneous coronary interventions (0.