In patients undergoing surgery, RBC transfusions may be associated with the development of new or progressive venous thromboembolism within 30 days of the procedure, results of a recent registry study suggest.
Patients who received perioperative RBC transfusions had significantly higher odds of developing postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) overall, as well as higher odds specifically for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), according to results published in JAMA Surgery.
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The indications for transfusion among patients in this data set are unknown, and may have contributed to VTE incidence. However, surgery is a well-recognized prothrombotic stimulus, noted study author Ruchika Goel, MD, MPH, of New York–Presbyterian and Cornell University, New York, and her coauthors.
“In a subset of patients receiving perioperative RBC transfusions, a synergistic and incremental dose-related risk for VTE development may exist,” Dr. Goel and her coauthors wrote.
The analysis was based on prospectively collected North American registry data including 750,937 patients who underwent a surgical procedure in 2014, of which 47,410 (6.3%) received one or more perioperative RBC transfusions. VTE occurred in 6,309 patients (0.8%), of which 4,336 cases were DVT (0.6%) and 2,514 were PE (0.3%).
The patients who received perioperative RBC transfusions had significantly increased odds of developing VTE in the 30-day postoperative period (adjusted odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 2.0-2.3) versus those who had no transfusions, according to results of a multivariable analysis adjusting for age, sex, length of hospital stay, use of mechanical ventilation, and other potentially confounding factors.
Similarly, researchers found transfused patients had higher odds of both DVT (aOR, 2.2; 95% CI, 2.1-2.4), and PE (aOR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.7-2.1).
Odds of VTE increased significantly along with increasing number of perioperative RBC transfusions from an aOR of 2.1 for those with just one transfusion to 4.5 for those who had three or more transfusion events (P less than .001 for trend), results of a dose-response analysis showed.
The association between RBC transfusions perioperatively and VTE postoperatively remained robust after propensity score matching and was statistically significant in all surgical subspecialties, the researchers reported.
However, they also noted that these results will require validation in prospective cohort studies and randomized clinical trials. “If proven, they underscore the continued need for more stringent and optimal perioperative blood management practices in addition to rigorous VTE prophylaxis in patients undergoing surgery.”
The study was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health and Cornell University. The researchers reported having no conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Goel R et al. JAMA Surg. 2018 Jun 13. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2018.1565.
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