TREATMENT OF SEVERE VENOUS THROMBOEMBOLISM WITH INTRAVENOUS HIRUDIN (HBW-023) - AN OPEN PILOT-STUDY

Recombinant Hirudin (rH) is an anticoagulant agent with a specific ant ithrombin activity independent of antithrombin III. We report the resu lts of the first open pilot study on the curative treatment of acute v enous thrombo-embolism (VTE) with rH (HBW 023) in ten patients. The do se of rH tested was 0.07 mg/kg (i. v. bolus) followed by 0.05 mg kg-1 h-1 (i. v. infusion) for 5 days, without activated partial thromboplas tin time (APTT) adjustment. Within the trial, no death, VTE recurrence or major bleeding was observed; lung scan pulmonary vascular obstruct ion improved from 44 to 37%, whereas the venographic Marder score was unchanged; APTT ratio ranged between 1.2 and 2.8. The dose of rH asses sed in this study seems to be safe and efficient in the treatment of a cute VTE.