Uri Pollak1,2,3, David Mishaly3,4, Gili Kenet3,5, Amir Vardi1,3
Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.1, pp. 16-25, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12557
Abstract Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a life-threatening complication of heparin therapy. The
risk for HIT correlates with the cumulative dosage of heparin exposure. In Fontan patients,
recurrent systemic anticoagulation, traditionally with heparin, is used to alleviate the thrombotic
complications that may occur postoperatively when the venous pressure rises and the systemic
venous flow into the pulmonary arteries becomes sluggish, putting them at increased risk. As a
pressure gradient-dependent circulation, elevation in systemic venous pressure, most often by
venous thrombosis, contributes to circuit failure. Therefore, when HIT complicates patients after
the Fontan procedure, it is associated with More >