INDISCRIMINATE COAGULATION TESTING FOR BLEEDING RISK ASSESSMENT PRIOR TO ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY. IS IT A RATIONAL APPROACH?

Abstract

Abstract Objective: Indiscriminative preoperative coagulation testing to identify patients at risk of bleeding is commonly practiced. However, this practice is no longer supported by current recommendations. We conducted this study with an aim to evaluate the advantage of doing screening testing for coagulation and hemostasis in unselected patients prior to elective orthopedic surgeries in our setting. Material and Methods: It was a retrospective, cross sectional study carried out at Medicare Cardiac and General Hospital, Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Karachi. All the patients admitted for elective orthopedic bilateral total knee replacement and Hip replacement surgeries from March 2016 to December 2018 were included in the study. Electronic data of patients’ pre-operative test results for Prothrombin time, activated partial Thromboplastin time was retrieved. Frequency of patients with deranged coagulation screening was calculated. Results: A total of 367 patients underwent pre-surgical coagulation testing. Male to female ratio was 1:3. Median age of patients was 61±5 years. A total of 2.9% (n=11) patients were found to have deranged coagulation profile. Out of which 3 patients did not undergo surgery and were loss to follow up. Out of total 0.54% (n=2) patients had both prolonged PT and APTT, 1.6% (n=6) patients had prolonged APTT and 0.3% (n=1) patient experienced intraoperative bleeding requiring one unit of packed cell transfusion. Only 0.3% (n=1) patient experienced post-operative bleeding and dropped her Hemoglobin and received transfusion. Conclusion: The overall results of the study suggest that indiscriminate coagulation screening does not provide any additional information unless further detailed hemostatic evaluation is carried out. It is suggested that routine screening tests should not be performed unless a medical history is indicative of bleeding tendency. Key Words: Coagulation screening, Bleeding risk, Orthopedic surgery.