Life-Threatening Coagulation Disorders in Critical Care Medicine

Hypercoagulability and bleeding are problems physicians frequently encounter when treating intensive care patients. The coagulation mechanism is a tightly controlled system. Its balance is disturbed in conditions such as septicemia, trauma, shock, and others. The dis­ turbances may be local or disseminated and the therapeutic options available are limited and nonspecific: limited since in most cir­ cumstances they may not affect the underlying disease and are si­ milarly independent of the patho