Article date: May 1992
By: BH Meyer, HG Luus, FO Muller, PN Badenhorst, MG Lotter, HJ Rothig, H Grotsch, B Rosenkranz, in Volume 33, Issue 5, pages 524-526
Hirudin is a selective thrombin inhibitor with strong anticoagulant properties which could elicit gastro‐intestinal bleeding. A double‐ blind cross‐over study of the effects of hirudin on gastro‐intestinal bleeding was therefore conducted on 12 healthy, consenting males. After labelling erythrocytes with 51Cr and returning them intravenously, stools were collected for 2 days to measure radioactivity and hence baseline faecal blood loss. After injection of hirudin or placebo stools were collected for 3 days. Partial thromboplastin time was measured sequentially after medication with hirudin or placebo. This procedure was repeated after injection of the alternate medication 1 week later. Hirudin was tolerated well. Mean faecal blood loss associated with hirudin was slightly higher than with placebo (1.63 ml vs 1.15 ml over 3 days; 95% confidence interval for the difference between hirudin and placebo was ‐0.68 to 1.63) but these differences are clinically irrelevant. After hirudin injection PTT was elevated to about twice the baseline values but returned to baseline within 12 h after the last hirudin injection.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1992.tb04083.x
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