A Multicenter Comparison of 2 Point-of-Care Activated Clotting Time Test Systems

To the Editor: Activated clotting time (ACT) is used to monitor unfractionated heparin anticoagulation during invasive procedures such as percutaneous coronary or electrophysiology interventions. There are several point-of-care (POC) methods available for ACT measurement and results can vary substantially (1–3), making thresholds method dependent. Values published in guidelines are mostly empiric or based on small-scale studies with different POC devices (4). It is important to realize that there is no “gold standard” ACT method and therefore no “true” ACT. These limitations demonstrate the significance of comparing different POC devices over a wide analytical range, to define optimal therapeutic thresholds for specific devices. We report the comparison between Hemochron Signature Elite (ITC) and the i-STAT (Abbott) …