A Thromboelastometric Evaluation of the Effects of Hypothermia on the Coagulation System
BACKGROUND: Hypothermia may be accidental or therapeutic. Therapeutic hypothermia is increasingly used as treatment for various conditions, e.g., neuroprotection after cardiac arrest. Hypothermia leads to an impairment of the coagulation system, but the degree of impairment has been difficult to determine. Most studies have been performed on plasma instead of whole blood. We therefore evaluated wh