Objectives: To make practical and evidence-based recommendations on improving understanding of bleeding and thrombosis with pediatric extracorporeal life support and to make recommendations for research directions.
Data sources: Evaluation of literature and consensus conferences of pediatric critical care and extracorporeal life support experts.
Study selection: A team of 10 experts with pediatric cardiac and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation experience and expertise met through the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society to review current knowledge and make recommendations for future research to establish "best practice" for anticoagulation management related to extracorporeal life support.
Data extraction/synthesis: The first of a two-part white article focuses on clinical understanding and limitations of medications in use for anticoagulation, including novel medications. For each medication, limitations of current knowledge are addressed and research recommendations are suggested to allow for more definitive clinical guidelines in the future.
Conclusions: No consensus on best practice for anticoagulation exists. Structured scientific evaluation to answer questions regarding anticoagulant medication and bleeding and thrombotic events should occur in multicenter studies using standardized approaches and well-defined endpoints. Outcomes related to need for component change, blood product administration, healthcare outcome, and economic assessment should be incorporated into studies. All centers should report data on patients receiving extracorporeal life support to a registry. The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization registry, designed primarily for quality improvement purposes, remains the primary and most successful data repository to date.