The impact of preoperative dual antiplatelet therapy on early outcome of acute type A aortic dissection patients undergoing aortic surgery

Objective To evaluate the impact of preoperative dual antiplatelet therapy on early outcome of acute type A aortic dissection(ATAAD) patients undergoing aortic surgery. Methods From December 2015 to November 2017, 45 consecutive patients with ingestion of aspirin and clopidogrel underwent aortic repair surgery at our center. 37 out of 45 patients(83%) were propensity-matched with 74 control ATAAD patients without antiplatelet therapy undergoing aortic surgery in 1∶2 fashion. Thereby, bleeding-related outcome(death, reoperation for bleeding, postoperative blood loss within 12 h ≥2 000 ml and usage of rFⅦa) and blood transfusion requirement were compared. Results Bleeding-related outcome occurred in 14(18.9%) and 9(24.3%) patients in control and antiplatelet group respectively(P=0.51). Postoperative blood loss within 12 hours was 490 ml in control group, compared to 500 ml in the antiplatelet group(P=0.85). There were no significant differences among the two groups in transfusion requirements of red blood cells, platelets and fresh frozen plasma. Multivariate regression analysis identified antiplatelet therapy as an nonsignifcant risk factor for bleeding-related outcome(OR=2.97, 95%CI: 0.87-10.21, P=0.08). Conclusion Preoperative dual antiplatelet therapy was not associated with increased risk of bleeding-related outcome and transfusion requirement, and was not a contraindication of emergent surgery for ATAAD patients. Key words: Aortic dissection; Aortic disease; Antiplatelet therapy