Abstracts were reviewed by two independent reviewers for acceptance into the paper review stage. Ab- stracts with at least one acceptance were sent to full manu- script review. In all, 286 full papers were reviewed by at least two members of the writing group for inclusion eligibility in the guideline. To be included, a paper had to report data on both of the following: (1) anticoagulant used for cardiopul- monary bypass; and (2) the monitoring techniques used to measure that anticoagulation. After passing mandatory in- clusion criteria, it was preferable that included papers have a prospective study design and also report on the frequency of anticoagulation monitoring, bleeding outcomes, and transfusion outcomes. Ninety-six manuscripts were included in the nal review. In addition, 17 manuscripts published before 2000 that were referenced within a manuscript and considered to be sentinel papers were included to provide method, context, or additional sup- porting evidence for the recommendations. Individual members of the writing group read the retrieved references for their assigned topics and formu- lated recommendations based on assessment of the relevant literature. Only English language articles contributed to the nal recommendations. For almost all topics reviewed, only evidence relating to adult patients entered into the nal recommendations, primarily because of limited availability of high-quality evidence relating to pediatric patients hav- ing cardiac procedures. Evidence tables were constructed to ensure that selected studies conformed to minimum re- quirements in terms of study design and reporting of out- comes. (A representative evidence table evaluating the anticoagulation studies is shown in Supplemental Table 1; study appraisals of randomized controlled trials and meta- analyses are shown in Supplemental Table 2; and the Newcastle-Ottawa appraisal for nonrandomized studies is depicted in Supplemental Table 3). 