Hypothermia as a cause of coagulopathy during hepatectomy.

We report a 27-year-old hemostatically competent female scheduled for partial hepatectomy. During the operation, she experienced an accidental inferior vena cava tear and suffered acute blood loss. After fluid resuscitation and blood transfusion, she developed hypothermia, with a temperature of 33.8 degrees C, and severe coagulopathy with activated clotting time exceeding 1500 seconds measured using the Hemochron Response system (ITC, Edison, NJ, USA). Despite sufficient blood transfusion and correction of her electrolyte imbalance, the poor hemostasis persisted. After per-forming peritoneal lavage with warm saline, her condition dramatically improved and her hypothermia and severe coagulopathy were reversed. 2010 Taiwan Society of Anesthesiologists. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.