Tag Archives: Prophylaxis

General

VTE Prophylaxis Before Spine Surgery?

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Many surgeons and surgical subspecialists are nervous about operating on people who are taking anticoagulants. This seems obvious when it involves patients on therapeutic anticoagulation. But it is much less clear when we are talking about lower prophylactic doses.

Spine surgeons are especially reluctant when they are operating around the spinal cord. Yet patients with spine injury are generally at the highest risk for developing venous thromboembolic (VTE) complications like deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE). Is this concern warranted?

Surgeons at the Presley Trauma Center in Memphis examined this issue by performing a retrospective review of six years worth of patients who underwent spine stabilization surgery. They specifically looked at administration of any kind of preop prophylactic anticoagulant, and the most feared complications of bleeding complications and postop VTE.

Here are the factoids:

  • A total of 705 patients were reviewed, with roughly half receiving at least one preop prophylactic dose and the other half receiving none
  • There were 447 C-spine, 231 T-spine, and 132 L-spine operations, performed an average of 4 days after admission
  • Overall, bleeding complications occurred in 2.6% and VTE in 2.8%
  • Patients with VTE were more severely injured (ISS 27 vs 18)
  • Those who received at least half of their possible prophylactic doses had a significantly lower PE rate (0.4% vs 2.2%) but no significant difference in DVT or bleeding complications

Bottom line: So what to make of this? It’s a relatively small, retrospective study, and there is no power analysis. Furthermore, this hospital does not perform routine DVT screening, so that component of VTE may be underestimated, rendering the conclusions invalid.

However, the information on bleeding complications is more interesting, since this is much more reliably diagnosed using an eyeball check under the dressing. So maybe we (meaning our neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons) need to worry less about preop prophylactic VTE drugs. But we still need better research about whether any of this actually makes a dent in VTE and mortality from PE. To be continued.

Reference: Early chemoprophylaxis is associated with decreased venous thromboembolism risk without concomitant increase in intraspinal hematoma expansion after traumatic spinal cord injury. J Trauma 83(6):1108-1113, 2017.

Pharmacy

ACS Trauma Abstracts #4: Timing Of DVT Prophylaxis In Spine Trauma

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Spine trauma is one of the high-risk indicators for deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Unfortunately, there is a great deal of variability in the start time for chemical prophylaxis for this injury, especially after the patient has undergone surgery. In part, this is due to a lack of good literature and guidelines, and in part due to the preferences of the spine surgeons who operate  on these patients.

A group at the University of Arizona in Tucson performed a large database review (looks like National Trauma Databank, although they don’t say in the abstract) looking at “early” vs “late” administration of prophylaxis after surgery in these patients. The spine injury was the predominant one, with all other systems having an abbreviated injury score (AIS) < 3. They matched two years worth of patients for demographics, initial vitals, type of operative intervention, and type of heparin to assess the impact of prophylaxis timing.

Here are the factoids:

  • Nearly 40,000 patient records were reviewed, and over 9,500 met the spine injury criteria with operation and prophylaxis. A total of 3,556 could be matched for analysis.
  • These patients were split in half for matching, late (>48 hrs) versus early (<48 hrs)
  • DVT rate was significantly lowe in the early prophylaxis group (2% vs 11%)
  • PE rate and mortality were the same between groups
  • Return to OR and blood transfusion rates were identical (1% and 1-2 units)

Bottom line: Once again, we see that “early” prophylaxis for DVT is probably desirable and mostly harmless, even after a spine operation. Many surgeons still have an irrational fear of giving heparin products in patients who have some risk of bleeding. The body of literature that supports early use just keeps growing. One observation, though: as in most other studies, pretty much whatever we do for DVT has a negligible impact on PE and mortality. We can only treat the clots, but not their major aftermath.

Reference:  Optimal timing of initiation of thromboprophylaxis in spinal trauma after operative intervention: – propensity-matched analysis. JACS 225(4S1):S59-S69, 2017.

General

Does Aspirin Add Anything To DVT Prophylaxis?

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Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is an ongoing problem for trauma professionals. Most trauma programs have settled on their own flavor of screening, prophylaxis, and treatment once the problem actually surfaces in a patient. Most prophylaxis centers around a combination of mechanical (leg squeezers) and chemical (some type of heparin) management.

Aspirin has been used for prophylaxis for elective orthopedic surgery, and occasionally in trauma patients managed by orthopedic surgeons for years. Existing literature supporting this has been sparse and unconvincing. But since VTE involves platelets as part of the process, why not have another look?

A recently published paper from Scripps in San Diego looked tried to gauge the effect of aspirin on trauma patients where taking it before they were injured. Novel idea. Can the findings be useful? The authors performed a retrospective, case-controlled study of patients who developed post-traumatic deep venous thrombosis (DVT). The patients were matched for 7 covariates, and the authors looked at an additional 26 risk factors. Those taking aspirin pre-injury were compared with those who were not.

Here are the factoids:

  • 172 cases were identified over the 5 ½ year study, and 62 (36%) were excluded because a matched control could not be found
  • 7% of the remaining110

    patients were taking aspirin (why?)

  • 13% of controls were taking aspirin
  • 7% were taking warfarin, and 4% were taking clopidogrel
  • The mean age was 52, ISS was 13-14, and hospital stay was 7-10 days (!)
  • Multivariate analysis showed a significant protective effect from DVT with a risk ratio of 0.17 (!!)
  • But this effect was found only when used in conjunction with heparin prophylaxis after admission

Bottom line: Interesting findings. What does it mean? First, this is a very small retrospective study. It was conducted over 5+ years, so changes in VTE screening and prophylaxis may have occurred at this hospital. But even so, the finding were compelling. The biggest problem is that we can’t expect people to predict that they will need to start taking aspirin. But the study does raise the interesting question of whether it might be helpful to start taking it as soon as the patient arrives at the hospital. This is one of those thought provoking studies that should prompt someone (hint hint) to design a nice prospective study to see if this ultra-cheap drug might help us bring down our VTE rates even more.

Reference: Aspirin as added prophylaxis for deep vein thrombosis in trauma: A retrospective case-control study. J Trauma 80(4):625-630, 2016.

Complications

How To Predict Venous Thromboembolism In Pediatric Trauma

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As with adults a decade ago, the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in children is now on the rise. Whereas adult VTE occurs in more than 20% of adult trauma patients without appropriate prophylaxis, it is only about 1% in kids, but increasing. There was a big push in the early 2000′s to develop screening criteria and appropriate methods to prevent VTE. But since the incidence in children was so low, there was no impetus to do the same for children.

The group at OHSU in Portland worked with a number of other US trauma centers, and created some logistic regression equations based on a large dataset from the NTDB. The authors developed and tested 5 different models, each more complex than the last. They ultimately selected a model that provided the best fit with the fewest number of variables.

The tool consists of a list of risk factors, each with an assigned point value. The total point value is then identified on a chart of the regression equation, which shows the risk of VTE in percent.

Here are the factors:

Note that the highest risk factors are age >= 13, ICU admission, and major surgery.

And here is the regression chart:

Bottom line: This is a nice tool, and it’s time for some clinical validation. So now all we have to do is figure out how much risk is too much, and determine which prophylactic tools to use at what level. The key to making this clinically usable is to have a readily available “VTE Risk Calculator” available at your fingertips to do the grunt work. Hmm, maybe I’ll chat with the authors and help develop one!

Reference: A Clinical Tool for the Prediction of Venous Thromboembolism in Pediatric Trauma Patients. JAMA Surg 151(1):50-57, 2016.

General

SCIP: Importance Of Prophylactic Antibiotics In Trauma Laparotomy

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Quite a lot of research has been done on the efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics in the prevention of infectious complications after surgical procedures. Antibiotics are now routinely given prior to most elective surgical procedures. In the US, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has formalized this into part of the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP), which mandates the use of an appropriate antibiotic within 1 hour preop and stopping it within 24 hours postop.

But what about emergent cases, like trauma laparotomy? Ensuring timely antibiotic administration is difficult due to the rapid events leading up to the operation. And sometimes it is not clear whether a hollow viscus injury has occurred until after start of operation, so the antibiotic choice may change in the middle of the case.

Two busy urban trauma centers with high penetrating injury rates looked at one year of experience in patients undergoing trauma laparotomy. They compared surgical site infections (SSI) in patients who received SCIP-compliant antibiotic administration vs those who did not. 

Key findings:

  • Patient mix was 30% blunt, 44% gunshot, 27% stab wounds
  • There were 151 SCIP-compliant patients and 155 noncompliant ones
  • Half of the noncompliant group did not receive the appropriate antibiotic (usually Cefazolin in hollow viscus injury), and half had antibiotics given for more than 24 hours
  • SCIP-compliant patients had significantly fewer wound infections and shorter length of stay. Mortality was the same.

Bottom line: I recommend adhering to SCIP prophylactic antibiotic guidelines for trauma laparotomy. There is no reason why this subset of patients should be treated any differently, and this study presents evidence that it is beneficial. Using the SCIP guidelines in emergent surgery reinforces the usual preop routine in hospitals that have already embraced them. In general, blunt trauma patients undergoing laparotomy should receive prophylaxis that covers skin organisms. Since penetrating trauma has a much higher chance of involving the intestinal tract, broader spectrum antibiotics should be selected. In either case, use the antibiotic that has been selected for this purpose by your hospital. And be sure they are stopped during the first 24 hours.

Reference: “SCIP"ping antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines in trauma: the consequences of noncompliance. J Trauma 73(2):452-456, 2012.