Summary
Delay in collecting coagulation test results from a central laboratory is one of the
critical issues to efficiently control haemostasis during surgery. The aim of this
multicenter study was to compare the performance of a point-of-care (POC) device (CoaguChek™ Pro DM) with the central laboratory-based coagulation testing during haemorrhagic
surgery. For this purpose, 93 patients undergoing major surgical procedure were prospectively
included in three centers. Blood was drawn from all patients before surgical incision
and from most patients during surgical procedure after a blood loss of 25% or more
was observed. When expressed in activity percentage, POC-based prothrombin time (PT)
was in good agreement with central laboratory test result with coefficient of correlation
in the range from 0.711 to 0.960 in the three centers. Comparison was less conclusive
when PT was expressed in seconds or as the patient-to-control ratio and for activated
partial thromboplastin time, with significantly shorter clotting times and lower ratios
obtained on the POC device. On-site PT (in activity percentage) monitoring would have
induced no significant change in fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion in patients
when compared to central laboratory monitoring. Test results were obtained in less
than 5 minutes when performed using the POC device versus a median turnaround time
of 88 minutes (range: 29–235 minutes) when blood collection tubes were sent to the
central laboratory. These results suggest that, in providing a rapid answer, POC-based
monitoring of PT (in percentage) using the CoaguChek device could be validly used
in patients undergoing haemorrhagic surgical procedures.
Keywords
Point of care - coagulation - testing - surgery - haemorrhage - transfusion - fresh
frozen plasma