Recombinant Factor VIIa Reduces Bleeding after Blunt Liver Injury in a Pig Model of Dilutional Coagulopathy under Severe Hypothermia.

Recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) is registered for use in haemophilia with inhibitors and other rare bleeding disorders, but has also been used in various other clinical conditions to terminate life-threatening bleeding. Underlying conditions (e.g. coagulopathy) and dosing may affect treatment efficacy. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of increasing doses of rFVIIa on blood loss and coagulation assays in haemodiluted and hypothermic pigs undergoing blunt liver injury.A grade III blunt liver injury was induced in 28 pigs after 70% haemodilution and cooling to 32.6-33.4°C. Ten minutes after trauma, animals randomly received placebo or 90, 180 or 360 μg/kg rFVIIa. Global coagulation parameters, thromboelastometry (TEM) and plasma thrombin generation (TG) were determined at different time points during the observation period of 120 minutes.Total blood loss was significantly lower following 90 μg/kg rFVIIa (1206 [1138-1470] mL) relative to placebo (2677 [2337-3068] mL; p