Anticoagulant: Definition: Any agent used to prevent the formation of blood clots. Anticoagulants have various uses.

Some are used for the prophylaxis (prevention) or the treatment of thromboembolic disorders. Thrombi are clots. Emboli are clots that break free, travel through the bloodstream, and lodge therein. The anticoagulant drugs used for these clinical purposes include: Intravenous heparin -- which acts by inactivating thrombin and several other clotting factors required for a clot to form; Oral anticoagulants such as warfarin and dicumarol -- which act by inhibiting the liver's production of vitamin K dependent factors crucial to clotting. Anticoagulant solutions are also used for the preservation of stored whole blood and blood fractions. These anticoagulants include heparin and acid citrate dextrose (commonly called ACD). Anticoagulants are also used to keep laboratory blood specimens from clotting. These agents include not only heparin but also several agents that make calcium ions unavailable to the clotting process and so prevent the formation of clots; these agents include ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (commonly called EDTA), citrate, oxalate and fluoride.

Anti Coagulant in Hemodyalisis

Hemodialysis and continuous renal replacement therapies require extracorporeal blood flow. Some form of anticoagulation, usually with heparin, is required to prevent thrombosis in the blood circuit. Strategies to minimize the risk of bleeding include low dose or "minimum heparin" as well as fast flow "no heparin" methods. Regional anticoagulation with citrate, prostacyclin, as well as heparin-protamine have also been used. The bleeding tendency induced by these regimens is additive to the commonly present platelet dysfunction associated with advanced renal failure. Anticoagulation during hemodialysis can be monitored by the determination of activated clotting times (ACTs). However, although ACTs have advantages over whole blood clotting times in that they are interpreted by an automated method with rapid results, they are infrequently used because of quality assurance and regulatory issues. In general, most outpatient dialysis units do not routinely measure anticoagulation parameters unless there is an issue with dialyser clotting or prolonged bleeding following dialysis. Usually each dialysis unit has a protocol that is followed.