An enzymatic system for removing heparin in extracorporeal therapy.

The need to fully heparinize patients undergoing extracorporeal therapy often leads to hemorrhagic complications. To enable heparinization of only the extracorporeal circuit, a blood filter containing immobilized heparinase was developed. This filter degraded 99 percent of heparin's anticoagulant activity within minutes in both canine and human blood.