We report a case of ophthalmic artery occlusion (OAO) in a young patient with COVID-19 infection that was on therapeutic anticoagulation with apixaban for deep venous thrombosis (DVT). A 48-year-old man with obesity was hospitalized with a severe form of COVID-19 infection, complicated with acute respiratory failure, septic shock, dilated cardiomyopathy and fungemia. Despite treatment with prophylactic enoxaparin (initial D-Dimer 1.14 mg/ml FEU (normal < 0.05 mg/ml FEU), D-Dimer increased to above 20 mg/ml FEU and patient continued to spike high fevers. This prompted further investigations and upper and lower extremities DVTs were confirmed and managed with enoxaparin 1 mg/kg twice daily. D-dimer level decreased to 4.98 mg/ml FEU while on therapeutic anticoagulation. Three weeks later pending hospital discharge, the anticoagulation was switched to oral apixaban 10 mg twice daily. Patient developed acute severe right eye visual loss of no light perception and was diagnosed with incomplete OAO. D-Dimer was elevated at 2.13 mg/ml FEU. Stroke etiological work-up found no embolic sources, resolution of the dilated cardiomyopathy and negative antiphospholipid antibodies. Treatment was changed to enoxaparin and no thrombotic events were encountered to date. Ocular vascular complications have not yet been reported in COVID-19. Controversy exists on the best management algorithm for the hypercoagulable state associated to COVID-19 Either direct oral anticoagulants or low-molecular-weightheparin are considered appropriate at discharge for patients with venous thromboembolism. The optimum regimen for ischemic stroke prevention and the significance of D-Dimer for anticoagulation monitoring in COVID-19 remain unclear.

Viscoelastic hemostatic assay (VHAs) are whole blood point-of-care tests that have become an essential method for assaying hemostatic competence in liver transplantation, cardiac surgery, and most recently, trauma surgery involving hemorrhagic shock. It has taken more than three-quarters of a century of research and clinical application for this technology to become mainstream in these three clinical areas. Within the last decade, the cup and pin legacy devices, such as thromboelastography (TEG® 5000) and rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM® delta), have been supplanted not only by cartridge systems (TEG® 6S and ROTEM® sigma), but also by more portable point-of-care bedside testing iterations of these legacy devices (e.g., Sonoclot®, Quantra®, and ClotPro®). Here, the legacy and new generation VHAs are compared on the basis of their unique hemostatic parameters that define contributions of coagulation factors, fibrinogen/fibrin, platelets, and clot lysis as related to the lifespan of a clot. In conclusion, we offer a brief discussion on the meteoric adoption of VHAs across the medical and surgical specialties to address COVID-19-associated coagulopathy.

Thromboembolic (TE) events and hemorrhagic complications continue to remain as frequent adverse events and causes of death after mechanical circulatory support device (MCSD) implantation. To counterbalance this postimplant multifactorial hypercoagulable state, antithrombotic therapy given postimplant must be individually tailored to keep patient adequately anticoagulated yet normocoagulable. Prior studies describing different anticoagulation protocols do not define normocoagulability for patients on MCSDs. We evaluated the role of thromboelastography platelet mapping (TEG PM) in defining "normocoagulability" for MCS patients on anticoagulant (warfarin) and antiplatelet agents. Ninety-eight MCSD patients who underwent TEG PM assay at our institution from 2012 to 2014 were included for retrospective analysis. Eleven (11.2%) subjects developed at least one TE event during the study period. Of the 13 TE events, 8 occurred in patients with total artificial heart (TAH). TEG parameters closest to the event or when patient was clinically adequately anticoagulated and corresponding international normalized ratio (INR) were measured. Thromboelastography coagulation index (CI) appears to be the single most statistically significant parameter that can be used to designate a patient as normocoagulable. Based on our results, patients with HeartMate II (HM II) and Heart Ware (HW) devices should be maintained at a CI value of less than or equal to 1.5 whereas patients with TAH devices should be maintained at a CI less than or equal to 1.2. The CI should be correlated with the degree of Vitamin K-dependent coagulation factor inhibition that is achieved using device-specific goal INR ranges. A recent modification, TEG PM assesses the effects of antiplatelet drug. Maximal amplitude arachidonic acid (MA-AA) < 50 and maximal amplitude adenosine diphosphate (MA-ADP) < 50 are desired for normocoagulable state.

No abstract

Overtreatment of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in the surgical ICU continues even with recent increased caution encouraging a higher antiplatelet factor 4/heparin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay optical density threshold before initiating treatment. More stringent criteria should be used to determine when to order serologic testing and when the results of such testing should prompt a change in anticoagulant treatment. If antiplatelet factor 4/heparin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is used to consider immediate treatment, an optical density greater than or equal to 2.0 may be a more appropriate threshold.

Prognostic/epidemiologic study, level III.

Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) involves a wide range of devices that share the common function of supporting or even replacing cardiac and/or pulmonary function.MCS devices (MCSDs) can restore the balance between myocardial oxygen supply and demand by generating effective systemic perfusion. MCSDs are classified as short-term (or rescue) and long-term devices. The short-term devices are usually used to support patients during high-risk interventional procedures or in emergencies as a bridge to recovery, bridge to transplant, or bridge to a long-term MCSD. 1MCSDs are also classified as intracorporeal or implanted and extracorporeal or percutaneous. Examples of

Background Bleeding remains a challenge during mechanical circulatory support and underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Functional von Willebrand factor (VWF) impairment because of loss of high-molecular-weight multimers (MWMs) produces acquired von Willebrand disease (VWD) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Little is known about VWF multimers with total artificial hearts (TAHs). Here, VWF profiles with LVADs and TAHs are compared using a VWD panel. Methods VWD evaluations for patients with LVAD or TAH (2013-14) were retrospectively analyzed and included: VWF activity (ristocetin cofactor, VWF:RCo), VWF antigen (VWF:Ag), ratio of VWF:RCo to VWF:Ag, and quantitative VWF multimeric analysis. Results Twelve patients with LVADs and 12 with TAHs underwent VWD evaluation. All had either normal (47.8%) or elevated (52.2%) VWF:RCo, normal (26.1%) or elevated (73.9%) VWF:Ag and 50.0% were disproportional (ratio ≤ 0.7). Multimeric analysis showed abnormal patterns in all patients with LVADs: seven with high MWM loss; five with highest MWM loss. With TAH, 10/12 patients had abnormal patterns: all with highest MWM loss. High MWM loss correlated with presence of LVAD and highest MWM loss with TAH. Increased low MWMs were detected in 22/24. Conclusion Using VWF multimeric analysis, abnormalities after LVAD or TAH were detected that would be missed with measurements of VWF level alone: loss of high MWM predominantly in LVAD, loss of highest MWM in TAH, and elevated levels of low MWM in both. This is the first study to describe TAH-associated highest MWM loss, which may contribute to bleeding.