Rewarming by hemodialysis for hypothermia: failure of heparin to prevent DIC.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is an infrequent but known complication of hypothermic injury. Previous work with a dog model had indicated that DIC could be prevented if the animals were treated with heparin prior to rewarming. We report here the case of a young man treated with core rewarming by hemodialysis who developed DIC despite the use of heparin during dialysis.