What is Bivalirudin?
Bivalirudin is a medicine that stops blood clots from forming by blocking a protein in your blood called thrombin. 1
How Does It Work?
- Bivalirudin attaches directly to thrombin, which is like a key player that helps your blood clot. 1
- Thrombin normally acts like scissors that cut up proteins to make blood clots stronger and stickier. 1
- When bivalirudin sticks to thrombin, it blocks thrombin from doing its job, so blood clots can't form as easily. 1
- The cool thing about bivalirudin is that it works on its own - it doesn't need other helper proteins in your blood to work, which makes it very predictable. 2
What Makes It Special?
- It works really fast - within 2 to 4 minutes after doctors give it to you through an IV. 3
- It doesn't last very long - it only stays active in your body for about 25 minutes if your kidneys are working normally. 4, 2, 3, 1
- Your body breaks it down mostly by cutting it into smaller pieces (80%), and your kidneys get rid of the rest (20%). 4, 2
- It doesn't stick to other things in your blood except thrombin, so it's very specific. 2, 1
When Do Doctors Use It?
- Doctors mainly use bivalirudin during heart procedures called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), where they open up blocked heart arteries. 1
- It's especially helpful for people who can't use heparin (another blood thinner) because they have a bad reaction to it called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. 4, 1
- It can also be used during heart attacks and unstable chest pain when doctors need to do heart procedures. 4
How Long Does It Work?
- Your blood goes back to normal clotting about 1 hour after the medicine is stopped. 1
- If your kidneys don't work well, the medicine stays in your body longer - up to 57 minutes with bad kidney problems, or even 3.5 hours if you need dialysis. 1