A Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial of Efficacy of Algorithm-Based Point of Care Guided Hemostatic Therapy in Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease Surgical Patients

Abstract

Abstract Objective Point of care (POC) testing-based algorithm-guided hemostatic therapy has been used in adult as well as pediatric cardiac surgical patients to administer blood components. The authors hypothesized that implementation of POC-based algorithm in pediatric cyanotic congenital surgical patients would reduce the exposure to blood component therapy and improve the clinical outcome. Design Prospective randomized control trial. Setting Single-center academic institute. Participants One hundred seventy pediatric congenital cyanotic surgical patients. Intervention Implementation of POC and conventional tests-based algorithms. Measurements and Main Results Algorithm-based blood component therapy was administered in each group. There were no group differences regarding the demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics. Amount of packed red blood cells (PRBCs), fresh frozen plasma (FFP), platelets, and cryoprecipitate (primary outcomes) administered was significantly lower in POC group than that in the conventional group (p < 0.001). Among the secondary outcomes, the chest drain output at 6, 12, and 24 hours and number of re-explorations was comparable among both the groups. The duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and hospital stay was significantly short in POC group (p = 0.008, <0.001 and 0.019, respectively). Conclusion Implementation of POC-based algorithm-guided hemostatic therapy reduced the exposure to blood and blood component therapy and was associated with reduced ICU and hospital stay in pediatric congenital cyanotic surgical patients.