The Results of Cardiac Surgery in Terms of Patient Blood Management in Our Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, Türkiye Yüksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, beginning in 2014, the patient blood management (PBM) protocol is individualised based on patients' comorbidities, and the threshold for transfusion is 7 g dL-1 of haemoglobin for patients without comorbidities and 8-9 g dL-1 for patients with comorbidities. In this study, our aim was to compare patient outcomes, requirement for transfusion and the cost of transfusion between two different periods with and without PBM protocol. METHODS: 229 and 283 patients who underwent open-heart surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass during the first 4 months of 2012 and the first 4 months of 2017, respectively, were included in this retrospective, cross-sectional study. RESULTS: There were no differences between the groups in preoperative data. Blood and blood product usage was observed to be significantly lower at the time of the PBM protocol. The use of packed red blood cells decreased from 2 units to 0and that of fresh frozen plasma decreased from 2 units to 0. In terms of postoperative mortality, there were no differences between the groups. CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, the transfusion of unnecessary blood and blood products was reduced and the cost decreased with PBM protocol. Blood product usage did not affect 30-day mortality. It will be possible to achieve more valuable results if more patients are assessed, PBM protocol is implemented and postoperative results are evaluated in detail.

Intraoperative left atrium inversion after implantation of HeartMate III ventricular assist device.

We report here a case of left atrium inversion after implanting HeartMate III LVAD, which is known to be the first in literature. LVAD can be functional only if there is adequate inflow to the device. Parameters and filling of left ventricle can be assessed by TEE. In our case, initial examination with TEE showed thrombus like images. HeartMate III has a reliable algorithm that automatically reduces pump speed if 'suction effect' is detected. HeartMate III demonstrates clean flow properties and good surface wash. Despite these positive features of the HeartMate III, left atrium inversion can still be seen with it, so users should be alert in this regard.