Case report of severe antithrombin deficiency during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and therapeutic plasma exchange for double lung transplantation

Abstract

Acquired antithrombin (AT) deficiency is not uncommon in cardiothoracic surgery because of heparin exposure and dilutional or consumptive losses. We report a case of acquired AT deficiency and resultant multiple deep vein thrombosis in a patient with pulmonary fibrosis on venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation who underwent double lung transplantation with intraoperative therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) as a part of an immunomodulation regimen for allosensitization. Preoperative heparin anticoagulation resulted in AT deficiency, which was further exacerbated by TPE using albumin. The recovery of AT activity after TPE with plasma was incomplete, and postoperative deficiencies of AT and other anticoagulants might have contributed to deep vein thromboses. The limitation of thromboelastometry in detecting AT deficiency was evident.