Author’s response to reviews Title: Monitoring of argatroban and lepirudin anticoagulation in critically ill patients by conventional laboratory parameters and rotational thromboelastometry - a prospectively controlled randomized double-blind clinical trial Authors:

Page 5, line 14: The authors outline the taking of blood at various time intervals "after argatroban or lepirudin infusion". It is unclear to the reader if this refers to commencement or cessation. In reply: We added the word “initiation” to the sentence, which now reads as: “Before as well as 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after initiation of argatroban or lepirudin infusion, blood was analysed...” Page 6, line 1: The authors state that they have shown "in critically ill patients, TT and ROTEM parameters provide better correlation to argatroban and lepirudin plasma concentrations than aPTT". The information presented in the abstract shows no evidence to justify this statement. Include additional information comparing aPTT to ROTEM/TT that justifies this statement or revise. In reply: Line 21 to 22 on page 5 of the previous version states: “For both drugs, there was no significant correlation between aPTT and aPTT ratios and plasma concentrations.” This statement is then followed by: “INTEM CT, INTEM CT ratios, EXTEM CT, EXTEM CT ratios, TT and TT ratios correlated significantly with plasma concentrations of both drugs.” (lines 22 to 24 page 5). These results are summarized to conclude:” In critically ill patients, TT and ROTEM parameters provide better correlation to argatroban and lepirudin plasma concentrations than aPTT.”