At least 10% of patients with lupus anticoagulant receiving long-term warfarin therapy may have falsely high INR values, which could lead to inappropriate warfarin dosage reduction. Monitoring warfarin therapy by chromogenic factor X activity in patients with lupus anticoagulant avoids this INR artifact.

Use of a monitored, adjusted-dose unfractionated heparin prophylactic protocol in a laparoscopic gastric bypass patient population resulted in doses greater than those used in traditional fixed-dose protocols. However, bleeding and thromboembolism rates were very low and no patients died.

A UFH dosage protocol based on patient sex, age, height, and weight produced improved initial target antifactor Xa levels compared with a weight-based protocol. The protocol is computerized and easy to apply.

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Warfarin therapy is used in lupus anticoagulant patients with thrombosis and yet the prothrombin time (PT)/international normalized ratio (INR) in these patients can sometimes be falsely elevated. Both a PT-based factor II (FII) assay and a chromogenic, enzymatic factor X (CFX) assay have been used for monitoring when the INR may be artifactual. This study compared FII and CFX assays in lupus anticoagulant-positive and lupus anticoagulant-negative warfarin-treated patients in a cross-sectional study of samples from 21 lupus anticoagulant-positive and 19 lupus anticoagulant-negative outpatients. Plasma samples were simultaneously measured for FII and CFX and the ratio of FII/CFX was used to measure concordance. Compared with lupus anticoagulant-negative patients 14 of the 21 lupus anticoagulant-positive patients had lower FII/CFX ratios (P < 0.01). Three of the patients had ratios less than 0.6 indicating strong disagreement (P < 0.0001). The patient with the lowest FII/CFX ratio had evidence suggesting a specific antibody to FII. Another patient showed that the discordance between FII and CFX varied over time. The CFX assay in the laboratory was technically superior, more precise, and less costly. The CFX assay is preferred for warfarin therapy monitoring in lupus anticoagulant patients when INR artifacts are suspected.

For highest risk gastric bypass patients, an UFH prophylactic continuous infusion protocol was effective in preventing postoperative thromboembolic events. Hemorrhagic complications were easily managed and did not result in long-term sequelae.

Electronic patient record databases may not contain a nominal variable database field for black or non-black status, which is required by the MDRD equations. The Cockcroft-Gault equation that used corrected weight and BSA adjustment performed about as well as the abbreviated MDRD equation and can be programmed into electronic patient records. Given the small number of black patients included in this study, further study in this patient population is recommended before applying this Cockcroft-Gault variant to this subgroup.

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