Low dose bivalirudin anticoagulation for lung transplantation with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a patient with acute heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.

A patient scheduled for lung transplantation needed veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and developed acute heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). After 21 days on ECMO support, lung transplantation was successfully performed using veno-arterial ECMO with bivalirudin anticoagulation. The target activating clotting time values of 160-180 s resulted in low bivalirudin infusion rates of 0.1 mg/kg/h. Diffuse bleeding stopped quickly after ending the continuous bivalirudin infusion.