Human Thrombin Found Equivalent to Bovine

A randomized study comparing treatment with plasma-derived human thrombin and thrombin derived from bovine sources shows that human thrombin is as effective as bovine thrombin in achieving hemostasis.

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (Philadelphia, PA, USA) compared treatment in 305 patients with mild or moderate bleeding during elective cardiovascular, neurological, or general surgical procedures. The researchers compared success in achieving hemostasis in patients at three-, six- and 10-minute intervals. The plasma-derived human thrombin used was commercially available Evithrom thrombin, a product of Ethicon (Somerville, NJ, USA), used topically.

Study results showed that the proportion of patients achieving hemostasis at 10 minutes (primary outcome) was 97.4% following treatment with human thrombin and also following treatment with bovine-derived thrombin. The percentages of patients achieving hemostasis at six minutes and three minutes were also equivalent. There were no statistically significant differences in several other variables including laboratory assessments, vital signs, blood loss, blood transfusions, time spent in a specialty-care unit, procedure duration, and length of hospital stay. The study was presented at the 6th annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management (SABM), held during September 2007 in Los Angeles (CA, USA).

"With Evithrom, the first plasma-derived human thrombin, surgeons have a new option for hemostasis that is as effective as bovine-derived thrombin but that also reduces the risks of antibody formation associated with the use of thrombin derived from bovine sources,” said lead author Cataldo Doria, M.D., based on study findings that demonstrated that patients who received bovine thrombin demonstrated seroconversion for at least one of the four antibodies assayed than did patients who received human thrombin ( 12.7% versus 3.3%, respectively).


Related Links:
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Ethicon