Effects of recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin and danaparoid sodium for sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation

Efficacy and safety of recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin in patients with sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation - A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin (rhTM) is used to treat sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). However, no consistent clinical guidelines exist regarding the administration of rhTM in patients with sepsis-induced DIC. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rhTM therapy in patients with sepsis-induced DIC.

METHODS

EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, Ichushi, and CINAHL databases were used to search for relevant articles that met the inclusion criteria of patients with sepsis-induced DIC treated with and without rhTM through November 2022. Mortality, DIC resolution, and incidence of bleeding complications were evaluated. DIC resolution was defined as the recovery from DIC after the start of DIC treatment.

RESULTS

Of the 1697 citations identified for screening, 17 studies involving 2296 patients were included. Administering rhTM significantly reduced mortality (odds ratio (OR) 0.54, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.42-0.71) and improved DIC resolution (OR 2.88, 95 % CI 1.83-4.52). There were no significant differences in the incidence of bleeding complications between the rhTM and control groups (OR 0.92, 95 % CI 0.66-1.28).

CONCLUSIONS

Our meta-analysis revealed that rhTM could reduce mortality and improve DIC resolution without increasing the risk of bleeding in patients with sepsis-induced DIC. Our findings suggest that rhTM is a relatively effective and safe anticoagulant for the treatment of sepsis-induced DIC.

SUMMARY

Recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin reduced mortality without increasing the bleeding risk in the treatment of sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin in severe sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Although recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin (rhTM) is a widely used novel anticoagulant agent for disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in Japan, its clinical efficacy in sepsis-induced DIC has not been demonstrated convincingly.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the benefits and harms of rhTM in sepsis-induced DIC patients.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of rhTM therapy for sepsis-induced DIC for both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies (retrospective case-control studies and/or prospective cohort studies) separately. All-cause mortality (28-30 days) as efficacy and serious bleeding complications as adverse effect were measured as primary outcomes. We assessed body of evidence quality at the outcome level by using the Grading of Evidence, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

RESULTS

We analyzed 12 studies (838 patients/3 RCTs; 571 patients/9 observational studies). Pooled relative risk was 0.81 (95% CI, 0.62-1.06) in the RCTs, indicating non-significant reduction in mortality, and 0.59 (95% CI, 0.45-0.77) in the observational studies. Meta-regression analysis revealed a significant negative slope between effect size of rhTM therapy and baseline mortality rate in individual studies (P = 0.012), suggesting that probability of a beneficial effect with rhTM therapy increases with increasing baseline risk. Risk of serious bleeding complications was not significantly different between rhTM and control groups. We judged the quality of evidence as moderate for mortality and serious bleeding.

CONCLUSIONS

The rhTM was associated with a trend in reduction of mortality at 28-30 days in sepsis-induced DIC patients. Further large rigorous trials are needed to confirm or refute these findings before implications for practice are clear.