The Effect of Cyanosis on Active Clotting Time During Diagnostic Catheterization

Introduction: cardiac catheterization is a common procedure which needs a careful coagulation monitoring. in our study, we aimed to find factors influencing active clotting time (act) following heparin therapy. methods: act of 71 patients who were scheduled to undergo transcutaneous diagnostic catheterization and angiography were measured at baseline, 2 and 60 minutes after 50 iu/kg heparin loading. act in two groups of patients (cyanotic and non-cyanotic) was compared. all data were analyzed with wilcoxon, mann-whitney test and pearson in spss 16, p value less than 0.05 was considered significant. results: act following heparin at 2nd and 60th minutes was not significantly different in cyanotic and non-cyanotic groups. at 60th minute following heparin administration, act decreased more dramatically in older children. conclusion: cyanosis does not affect act measures following heparin treatment. moreover, after 60 minutes, heparin efficacy (act values) decreased more with increase in patients’ age.