Failure of recombinant factor VIIa in a patient with severe polymicrobial sepsis and postoperative uncontrolled intraabdominal bleeding
2007

Failure of recombinant factor VIIa in a patient with severe sepsis and bleeding

Sample size: 1 publication Evidence: low

Author Information

Author(s): Anna Conen, Maja Weisser, Dimitrios A Tsakiris, Martin Siegemund

Primary Institution: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Hypothesis

Can recombinant factor VIIa effectively control bleeding in patients with severe polymicrobial sepsis?

Conclusion

The off-label use of recombinant factor VIIa may lead to more side effects than expected due to publication bias, and there is a need for guidelines on its use.

Supporting Evidence

  • The patient had severe intraabdominal bleeding after surgery despite treatment.
  • Recombinant factor VIIa was administered but did not stop the bleeding.
  • The patient died from multiorgan failure due to septic and hemorrhagic shock.

Takeaway

This study talks about a very sick man who didn't get better after using a special medicine to stop his bleeding, showing that sometimes treatments don't work as hoped.

Methodology

Case report of a single patient treated with recombinant factor VIIa for uncontrolled bleeding.

Potential Biases

Potential publication bias may overestimate the efficacy of rFVIIa.

Limitations

The study is based on a single case report, limiting generalizability.

Participant Demographics

54-year-old male with severe polymicrobial sepsis.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1471-2334-7-34

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