Association between intraoperative blood salvage and coagulation disorder after cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: This study investigated whether intraoperative blood salvage was associated with coagulation disorder diagnosed by conventional coagulation tests and thromboelastography (TEG) after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

Study design and methods: This was a prospective, observational study. Ninety-two patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery with CPB were enrolled. We evaluated coagulation function in patients with or without cell salvage blood transfusion at the following time points: before CPB, just after protamine administration, and 1 h after protamine administration. We evaluated platelet count, fibrinogen concentration, and TEG parameters. Patients were considered to have coagulation disorder if one or more of the following criteria were present: (1) residual heparin, (2) low platelet count, (3) low fibrinogen level, (4) low clotting factor level, and (5) hyperfibrinolysis.

Results: Fifty-three of 92 patients (57.6%) received intraoperative cell salvage. Coagulation disorder was observed in 56 of 92 patients (60.9%) after CPB. There was no significant difference between patients with or without intraoperative blood salvage in terms of the incidence of coagulation disorder (p = 0.542) or the total volume of blood from the drain after CPB (p = 0.437). Intraoperative blood salvage was not associated with coagulation disorder diagnosed by either TEG or conventional coagulation tests (odds ratio 1.329, 95% confidence interval: 0.549-3.213, p = 0.547). There were no significant interactions between patients with or without intraoperative blood salvage regarding coagulation parameters derived from TEG.

Conclusions: The incidence of coagulation disorder and the total blood volume from the drain after CPB did not differ significantly between patients with or without intraoperative blood salvage.