This article is part of the supplement: Recombinant activated factor VIIa and hemostasis in critical care: a focus on trauma

A correction for this article has been published in Critical Care 2005, 9:560

Review

Clinical experiences and current evidence for therapeutic recombinant factor VIIa treatment in nontrauma settings

R Michael Grounds¹ and Charles Bolan²

¹Adult Intensive Care Unit, St George's Hospital, London, UK

²COL (retired) US Army Medical Corps, Deputy Chief, Blood Services Section, Department of Transfusion Medicine, Clinical Centre, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

author email corresponding author email

Critical Care 2005, 9(Suppl 5):S29-S36doi:10.1186/cc3783

Published:	7 October 2005

Abstract

The hemostatic properties of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) are established in patients with inherited or acquired hemophilia with inhibitors and in patients with congenital factor VII deficiencies. Emerging clinical evidence suggests that there may be a wider role for rFVIIa in the management of hemorrhage associated with traumatic injury/accident and severe bleeding associated with critical surgery. This article considers recent data from studies in which rFVIIa was used in an attempt to control bleeding in clinical situations as diverse as coagulopathy associated with chronic liver disease, massive perioperative bleeding and bleeding during prostatectomy, organ transplantation and orthopedic surgery, uncontrollable obstetric hemorrhage, and intracerebral hemorrhage. In nontrauma settings involving acute and potentially life threatening bleeding, there may be a place for rFVIIa as adjunctive therapy in the control of hemostasis.