Procedure-related Complication Rate for the Endovascular Treatment of Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage under Local Anesthesia

OBJECTIVE: To report the procedure related complication rate of endovascular treatments (EVTs) performed on patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) under local anesthesia (LA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study enrolled 186 patients who underwent EVT for ruptured aneurysm under LA from January 2009 to December 2013. Procedure-related complications rate and factors associated with it were analyzed depending on the patients' factors, aneurysm factors and physician factors. RESULTS: Among the 186 patients who underwent EVT under LA, the respective rates of thromboembolic complication (TEC) and intraoperative rupture (IOR) were 12.8% (23 cases) and 12.9% (24 cases), respectively. Aneurysm size (≥ 7 mm) was the only risk factor for TEC (p = 0.048). CONCLUSION: Compared to previous result with under general anesthesia (GA), the rate of TEC was similar in patients treated under LA, but the IOR rate was significantly higher. The main reason for increasing IOR is considered as the unexpected patients' motion and in accordance with the unexpected movement of the microinstruments. Therefore, another methods to stabilize the patients or switching from LA to GA may be necessary when performing EVT, to reduce complications.

Influence of Auxiliary Application of Xuesaitong Injection on Blood Coagulation Indices and Thromboem-bolic Complications in Patients after Finger Replantation / 中国药师

Objective:To investigate the influence of auxiliary application of Xuesaitong injection on blood coagulation indices and thromboembolic complications in the patients after finger replantation. Methods:Totally 64 patients with finger replantation were cho-sen from March 2012 to March 2014 in our hospital and randomly divided into the control group (32 patients) treated with low molecu-lar weight heparin and Xuesaitong group (32 patients) treated with Xuesaitong injection additionally. The clinical curative effect, sur-vival time of finger replantation, the levels of blood coagulation indices before and after the operation and the incidence of thrombotic complications in both groups were compared. Results: The clinical curative effect of the control group and Xuesaitong group was 68. 75% and 93. 75, respectively, and that of Xuesaitong group was significantly better than that of the control group (P0. 05). Conclusion:Auxiliary application of Xuesaitong injection in the patients after finger replantation can efficiently speed up the replantation survival process and improve blood coagulation indices after the operation, which is helpful to reducing the risk of thrombotic complications.

Effect of Discontinuation of Anticoagulation in Patients with Intracranial Hemorrhage at High Thromboembolic Risk

OBJECTIVE: There was no abundance of data on the use of anticoagulant in patients with previous high risk of thromboembolic conditions under a newly developed intracranial hemorrhage in Korean society. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of discontinuance and suggest the proper time period for discontinuance of anticoagulant among these patients. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 19 patients who took anticoagulant because of thromboembolic problems and were admitted to our department with newly developed anticoagulation associated intracranial hemorrhage (AAICH), and stopped taking medicine due to concern of rebleeding from January 2008 to December 2012. Analysis of the incidence of thromboembolic complications and proper withdrawal time of anticoagulant was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Our patients showed high risk for thromboembolic complication. The CHA2DS2-VASc score ranged from two to five. Thromboembolic complication occurred in eight (42.1%) out of 19 patients without restarting anticoagulant since the initial hemorrhage. Among them, three patients (37.5%) died from direct thromboembolic complications. Mean time to outbreak of thromboembolic complication was 21.38+/-14.89 days (range, 8-56 days). The probability of thromboembolic complications at 7, 14, and 30 days since cessation of anticoagulation was 0.00, 10.53, and 38.49%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Short term discontinuance of anticoagulant within seven days in patients with AAICH who are at high embolic risk (CHA2DS2-VASc score >2) appears to be relatively safe in Korean people. However, prolonged cessation (more than seven days) may result in increased incidence of catastrophic thromboembolic complications.

Effect of Premedication Method and Drug Resistance of Antiplatelet Agent on Periprocedural Thromboembolic Events During Coil Embolization of an Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm

OBJECTIVE: A retrospective review of premedication method and drug resistance of aspirin and clopidogrel in association with thromboembolic events during and after coil embolization of an unruptured intracranial aneurysm was conducted. METHODS: Our premedication policy for coil embolization of an unruptured intracranial aneurysm has changed from administration of the loading dose before the procedure (i.e. loading group) to repeated administration of the maintenance dose for several days (i.e. preparation group). The loading group (27 patients with 29 aneurysms) and the preparation group (30 patients with 35 aneurysms) were compared for identification of the effect of premedication method on periprocedural thromboembolic events. The results of drug response assays of the preparation group were analyzed with respect to periprocedural thromboembolic events. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference in incidence of thromboembolic events was observed between the loading group and the preparation group. Analysis of the results of the drug response assay showed high prevalence (56.7%, 73.3%) of clopidogrel resistance and relatively low prevalence (6.7%) of aspirin resistance. Patients who had thromboembolic events tended to have lower responsiveness to both aspirin and clopidogrel than patients without it. CONCLUSION: The method of antiplatelet premedication does not affect the rate of periprocedural thromboembolic events in coil embolization for treatment of an unruptured intracranial aneurysm. Nevertheless, considering the high prevalence of drug resistance, it is reasonable to premedicate antiplatelet agents in the preparation method for the drug response assay. Use of a higher dose of aspirin and clopidogrel or addition of an alternative drug (cilostazol or triflusal) can be applied against antiplatelet agent resistance. However, because the hemorrhagic risk associated with this supplementary use of antiplatelet agent has not been well-documented, the hemorrhagic risk and the preventive benefit must be weighed.