ORIGINAL ARTICLEMajor obstetric haemorrhage: monitoring with thromboelastography, laboratory analyses or both?
Introduction
Haemorrhage is still a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the obstetric population. The latest UK Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths reported a decline in mortality from postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) but it is still the sixth most common direct cause of death.1 Several reports have described substandard care and stated the need for guidelines for managing PPH.2, 3, 4 Postpartum haemorrhage has been reported to be responsible for 73% of all severe morbidity during pregnancy and is the most common obstetric cause of intensive care admission.5 Laboratory analyses are usually used for diagnosis of haemostatic disorders in cases of obstetric haemorrhage and serve as a basis for decision-making and follow-up treatment. As the results of these analyses are reported with variable delay, immediate knowledge of the haemostatic condition has previously been unavailable, making early specific treatment difficult.
Two viscoelastic methods, thromboelastography (TEG) and thromboelastometry (TEM), have now been re-evaluated and technically improved. These global point-of-care tests simultaneously measure coagulation and fibrinolysis in whole blood and can detect haemostatic derangement within 10–20 min.6 In a recent prospective longitudinal study in healthy pregnant women, TEG demonstrated faster blood coagulation with increased strength of the fibrin clot and less fibrinolysis during the pregnancy compared to eight weeks postpartum.7 These results are supported by other studies reporting changes in TEG/TEM variables during the puerperium.8, 9 Few studies have evaluated TEG/TEM in women with PPH10 and the significance of these methods in connection with obstetric haemorrhage is unclear.11, 12, 13, 14
The primary aim of this prospective observational study was to describe the results of coagulation testing using TEG and traditional laboratory analyses during major obstetric haemorrhage (MOH) and to compare the findings with results of parturients with normal postpartum blood loss. A secondary aim was to study whether the results of TEG or laboratory analyses correlated with estimated blood loss (EBL).
Section snippets
Methods
The Regional Ethical Review Board in Gothenburg, Sweden approved this study. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Women with MOH and women with blood loss <600 mL were included. Women with MOH were brought to the operating room, if not already there because of caesarean section, and blood sampling was performed after an EBL of ⩾2000 mL. The first sample was performed after admission to the operating room or when the decision to assess coagulation was made. Women were asked
Results
Forty-five women with MOH and 49 women with blood loss <600 mL were included. Patient characteristics are shown in Table 1. Treatments at the time of blood sampling are shown in Table 2. Major obstetric haemorrhage was secondary to placental retention (n = 17), caesarean section (n = 14), uterine atony (n = 6), uterine rupture (n = 2), placenta praevia (n = 2), cervical or vaginal lacerations (n = 2), abruptio placentae (n = 1) and placenta accreta (n = 1).
Thromboelastography variables are shown in Table 3.
Discussion
The main finding in this study is that haemostasis is impaired when blood loss exceeds 2000 mL during MOH, demonstrated by both TEG and laboratory analyses. Thromboelastography can provide rapid and clinically important information about haemostatic changes in connection with MOH; perhaps revealing indications for specific blood product therapy at an earlier point compared with traditional laboratory testing. Laboratory analyses can verify and specify these haemostatic changes. TEG showed faster
Disclosure
This work was financially supported by Sahlgrenska University Hospital and grants from the Västra Götaland Region, the Göteborg Medical Society and Elsa and Gustav Lindhs Foundation. Kaolin, reagent, cups and pins were supplied by the Haemoscope Corporation. The company had no impact on study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of report or decision to submit the paper for publication. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
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2022, Best Practice and Research: Clinical AnaesthesiologyCitation Excerpt :The alternative strategy is to transfuse FFP empirically in fixed ratios with RBCs based on data derived from studies in major trauma [50,51]. PT/aPTT usually stay within the normal range until bleeds reach >3 L [17,25,29]. This is due to high levels of coagulation factors at term protecting against clinically significant dilution until large volumes of bleeding and resuscitation have occurred.