Vascular Thrombosis clinical trials

Is Red Blood Cell Transfusion a Risk Factor for Vascular Pedicle Thrombosis? The Study Case of a Latin American Cohort

The present cohort was performed between January of 2014 and December of 2019. It included 302 free flaps conducted between January 2006 and December 2019 in the Hospital de San José and Hospital Infantil Universitario de San José in Bogotá, Colombia. Its aims were to determine whether there is an association between perioperative red blood cell transfusion and the risk of free flap vascular pedicle thrombosis. The exposure was the red blood cell transfusion therapy during the perioperative eriod, and the primary outcome was the occurrence of vascular pedicle thrombosis, which was defined as the intraoperative visualization of arterial or venous thrombosis of the vascular pedicle observed until seven days following the procedure. As a secondary outcome, the presence of clinical signs of arterial or venous flap suffering. Red blood cell transfusion was prescribed by the attending anesthesiologist. The methodology included data collection from medical records history, statistical analysis (incidence of thrombosis and to plot survival curves, the incidence rates calculated for every 1000 free flaps and the analysis between thrombosis and perioperative variables) by Kaplan Meier method and Cox regression models and its interpretation. The results showed that red blood cell transfusion during the perioperative period did not represent a risk for vascular pedicle thrombosis and also discarded a possible effect on the free flap survival.