Significance and future of anticoagulant therapy for sepsis

Sepsis is caused by the imbalance of the host body's response to infection, which causes life-threatening organ dysfunction. Disorders of blood coagulation play a very important role in the development of sepsis. In sepsis, the body's coagulation system is activated, leading to hypercoagulability, while the anticoagulation mechanism is significantly inhibited, causing a large number of microthrombi to form, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) may occur. Although there are obvious controversies about the anticoagulation treatment of sepsis at home and abroad, we cannot deny the significance of anticoagulation treatment in sepsis. Only appropriate anticoagulation can effectively reduce the mortality in septic DIC, septic shock and high-risk population, and ultimately effectively reduce the occurrence of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. The sepsis-induced coagulation dysfunction (SIC) score is currently used internationally to guide anticoagulation. SIC score is optimized based on the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) overt DIC score and Sepsis-3, including platelet, international normalized ratio (INR) and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA). The SIC score can sensitively monitor sepsis-induced coagulation dysfunction. When the SIC score is ≥ 4, it is the best timing to initiate anticoagulation therapy. At present, the internationally recommended anticoagulant drugs include antithrombin (AT), thrombomodulin (TM), tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), heparin, etc., while the domestically recommended anticoagulant drugs are only unfractionated heparin and low molecular weight heparin. Before using anticoagulant drugs, it is necessary to evaluate the possibility of bleeding and thrombosis in the patients. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the patient's primary disease. Try to adopt the treatment strategy of transitioning from unfractionated heparin to low molecular weight heparin without obvious anticoagulation contraindications.