ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Blood conservation and hemostasis are integral parts of reducing avoidable blood transfusions and the associated morbidity and mortality. Despite the publication of blood conservation guidelines for cardiac surgery, evidence suggests persistent variability in practice patterns. Members of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) created a survey to audit conformance to existing guidelines and use the results to help narrow the evidence-to-practice gap. METHODS: Members of the SCA and its Continuous Practice Improvement (CPI)- Blood Conservation Work Group developed a 48-item Blood Conservation and Hemostasis in Cardiac Surgery (BCHCS) survey. The questionnaire included the components of the Anesthesia Quality Institute's (AQI) composite measure AQI49. The survey was distributed to the entire SCA membership by e-mail via the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) Consortium between the fall of 2017 and early 2018. RESULTS: Of 3152 SCA members, 536 returned surveys for a response rate of 17%. Most responders worked at academic institutions. The median transfusion trigger after cardiopulmonary bypass was hemoglobin (Hgb) 7.0 to 8.0 g/dL. There are 4 components to AQI49, and the composite conformance to all of them was low due to 1 specific component: the use of transfusion algorithms supplemented with point-of-care (POC) testing. There was good conformance to the other 3 components of AQI49: use of antifibrinolytics, minimization of hemodilution and use of red cell salvage. Overall, practices with a multidisciplinary patient blood management (PBM) team were the most successful in meeting all 4 AQI49 criteria. CONCLUSIONS: The survey demonstrated widespread adoption of several best practices, including the tolerance of lower hemoglobin transfusion triggers, use of antifibrinolytics, minimization of hemodilution, and use of red cell salvage. The survey also confirms that gaps remain in preoperative anemia management and the use of transfusion algorithms supplemented with POC hemostasis testing. Serial use of this survey can be used to identify barriers to implementation and audit the effectiveness of interventions described in this article. This instrument could also help harmonize local, regional, and national efforts and become an essential component of an implementation strategy for PBM in cardiac surgery.
Subject(s)
Anesthesiologists/standards , Bloodless Medical and Surgical Procedures/standards , Cardiac Surgical Procedures/standards , Evidence-Based Medicine/standards , Hemostasis/physiology , Practice Guidelines as Topic/standards , Blood Transfusion/methods , Blood Transfusion/standards , Bloodless Medical and Surgical Procedures/methods , Cardiac Surgical Procedures/adverse effects , Cardiac Surgical Procedures/methods , Evidence-Based Medicine/methods , Female , Humans , Male , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Most cartilage explant culture studies assume conventional serum-supplemented growth media are biologically equivalent to the natural synovial fluid which baths cartilage in vivo. Few studies have systematically compared the effects of serum versus synovial fluid in culture. To address this assumption we conducted a series of studies to determine if cartilage matrix synthesis is significantly different in serum-based versus synovial fluid-based media. Normal bovine cartilage explants were cultured in DMEM either alone or supplemented with bovine serum or bovine synovial fluid. Matrix synthesis was measured with radiolabeling techniques. We then compared responses to insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I, a stimulator of matrix synthesis), and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta, an inhibitor of matrix synthesis). We observed significantly lower matrix synthesis activity in synovial fluid versus serum. Caution shoud be used in extrapolating studies of cartilage grown in media supplemented with serum rather than synovial fluid.
