Use of Argatroban for anticoagulation during cardiopulmonary bypass in a patient with heparin allergy

The use of Argatroban for treatment of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) and for percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with HIT is well described and FDA approved. The use of Argatroban for cardiopulmonary bypass remains off label and the subject of a few case reports. We report the case of a patient with a heparin allergy requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) for mitral valve replacement. Argatroban was successfully used as anticoagulation for CPB. (C) 2008 European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.