Global Coagulation Testing in Acute Care Medicine: Back to Bedside?

OBJECTIVES: Detailed and decisive information about the patients' coagulation status is important in various emergency situations. Conventional global coagulation testing strategies are often used to provide a quick overview, but several limitations particularly in the trauma setting are well described. With the introduction of direct oral anticoagulations (DOACs), a milestone for several disease entities resulting in overall improved outcomes could be reached, but at the same time providing new diagnostic challenges for the emergency situation.

DESIGN: As an alternative to conventional coagulation tests, there is increasing clinical and scientific interest in the use of early whole blood strategies to provide goal-directed coagulation therapies (GDCT) and hemostatic control in critically ill patients. Viscoelastic hemostatic assays (VHAs) were therefore introduced to several clinical applications and may provide as a bedside point-of-care method for faster information on the underlying hemostatic deficiency.

CONCLUSION: The use of VHA-based algorithms to guide hemostatic control in emergency situations now found its way to several international guidelines for patients at risk of bleeding. With this qualitative review, we would like to focus on VHA-based GDCT and review the current evidence for its use, advantages, and challenges in the two different clinical scenarios of trauma and intracerebral bleeding/stroke management.