[Measurement of activated whole blood coagulation as a control parameter for heparin dosage in hemodialysis].

A precise dosage of heparin is necessary especially in acute dialysis, but also in chronic dialysis. This can be checked by measuring the partial thromboplastin time, the thrombin time, the coagulation time according to Lee-White or, recently, by automatic measurement of activated whole-blood coagulation. For the latter only 0.5 ml of whole blood is necessary. In a total of 44 examinations the activated whole-blood coagulation time was shown to be well reproducible. In the 40 patients examined there was considerable variation in the sensitivity to and the elimination rate of heparin, which indicates the necessity of individual heparin dosage. Measuring the activated whole-blood coagulation time proved to be suitable for classifying the patients.