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Original research
Reversal of warfarin anticoagulation in geriatric traumatic brain injury due to ground-level falls
  1. Michael John Paisley1,
  2. Arianne Johnson2,
  3. Spencer Price3,
  4. Bernard Chow3,
  5. Liliana Limon2,
  6. Rohit Sharma2,
  7. Stephen Kaminski2
  1. 1Surgery, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara, California, USA
  2. 2Trauma, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara, California, USA
  3. 3Radiology, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Michael John Paisley, Surgery, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, USA; mjpaisley{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Background The efficacy of prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) compared with fresh frozen plasma (FFP) for reversal of oral anticoagulants has not been investigated in geriatric patients suffering intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) due to a ground-level fall (GLF).

Methods Patients 65 years and older who were treated at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital between January 2011 and March 2018 with ICH after a GLF while taking warfarin were reviewed. Patients were reversed with either FFP (n=25) or PCC (n=27) and patient outcomes were compared. Separate analyses were conducted for patients who received adjuvant vitamin K administration and those who did not.

Results Mortality rates, hospital length of stay, intensive care unit admission and length of stay were similar for both FFP and PCC intervention. There was no difference in radiological progression of hemorrhage within the first 24 hours of admission (FFP: 36%, PCC: 43%, p=0.365). In patients who had international normalized ratio (INR) values measured prior to intervention, 81% (17 out of 21) of the PCC group reached an INR value below 1.5 within an 8-hour period, whereas only 29% (4 out of 14) of the FFP group did (p=0.002). Vitamin K was concomitantly given to 28% of the patients receiving FFP, and 81% of those patients receiving PCC. No significant differences in outcomes were found whether adjunctive vitamin K was administered or not, in either FFP or PCC group. However, when vitamin K was not administered, the PCC group had a higher rate of INR reversal (80% vs. 10% for FFP, p=0.006).

Conclusion Administration of PCC is as effective in short-term outcomes as FFP in treating geriatric patients on warfarin sustaining an ICH after a GLF. INR reversal was more successful, significantly faster, and required lower infusion volumes in patients receiving PCC.

Level of evidence Level III.

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/tsaco-2019-000352

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All authors contributed to the development, review and composition of the research protocol and article.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request.