Hemoperfusion leads to impairment in hemostasis and coagulation process in patients with acute pesticide intoxication

Hemoperfusion (HP) is one of the important treatment modalities in extracorporeal therapy for patients with acute intoxication. Its use has declined during the past 20 years despite its efficacy, because of its side effects, especially an increased risk of bleeding. Mechanisms of hemostasis impairment have not been clearly elucidated and studies demonstrating the mechanism are lacking. It is not clear which step of the hemostatic process is impaired during HP, and whether it leads to an increased risk of bleeding. We performed both in vivo and in vitro studies to elucidate the mechanism of impairment in the hemostatic process. In patients with acute pesticide intoxication who underwent HP, the platelet count decreased rapidly during the first 30 minutes from 242.4 ± 57.7 × 10(3)/μL to 184.8 ± 49.6 × 10(3)/μL, then gradually decreased even lower to 145.4 ± 61.2 × 10(3)/μL over time (p < 0.001). As markers of platelet activation, platelet distribution width increased continuously during HP from 41.98 ± 9.28% to 47.69 ± 11.18% (p < 0.05), however, mean platelet volume did not show significant change. In scanning electron microscopy, activated platelets adhered to modified charcoal were observed, and delayed closure time after HP in PFA-100 test suggested platelet dysfunction occurred during HP. To confirm these conflicting results, changes of glycoprotein expression on the platelet surface were evaluated when platelets were exposed to modified charcoal in vitro. Platelet expression of CD61, fibrinogen receptor, significantly decreased from 95.2 ± 0.9% to 73.9 ± 1.6%, while those expressing CD42b, von Willebrand factor receptor, did not show significant change. However, platelet expression of CD49b, collagen receptor, significantly increased from 24.6 ± 0.7% to 51.9 ± 2.3%. Thrombin-antithrombin complex, a marker for thrombin generation, appeared to decrease, however, it was not statistically significant. Fibrin degradation products and d-dimers, markers for fibrinolysis, increased significantly during HP. Taken together, our data suggests that hemoperfusion leads to impairment of platelet aggregation with incomplete platelet activation, which was associated with reduced thrombin generation, accompanied by increased fibrinolysis.