Spine Surgery and Related Research (Jul 2022)

Is Blood Loss Greater in Elderly Patients under Antiplatelet or Anticoagulant Medication for Cervical Spine Injury Surgery? A Japanese Multicenter Survey

  • Masashi Uehara,
  • Shota Ikegami,
  • Takashi Takizawa,
  • Hiroki Oba,
  • Noriaki Yokogawa,
  • Takeshi Sasagawa,
  • Kei Ando,
  • Hiroaki Nakashima,
  • Naoki Segi,
  • Toru Funayama,
  • Fumihiko Eto,
  • Akihiro Yamaji,
  • Kota Watanabe,
  • Satoshi Nori,
  • Kazuki Takeda,
  • Takeo Furuya,
  • Sumihisa Orita,
  • Hideaki Nakajima,
  • Tomohiro Yamada,
  • Tomohiko Hasegawa,
  • Yoshinori Terashima,
  • Ryosuke Hirota,
  • Hidenori Suzuki,
  • Yasuaki Imajo,
  • Hitoshi Tonomura,
  • Munehiro Sakata,
  • Ko Hashimoto,
  • Yoshito Onoda,
  • Kenichi Kawaguchi,
  • Yohei Haruta,
  • Nobuyuki Suzuki,
  • Kenji Kato,
  • Hiroshi Uei,
  • Hirokatsu Sawada,
  • Kazuo Nakanishi,
  • Kosuke Misaki,
  • Hidetomi Terai,
  • Koji Tamai,
  • Eiki Shirasawa,
  • Gen Inoue,
  • Kenichiro Kakutani,
  • Yuji Kakiuchi,
  • Katsuhito Kiyasu,
  • Hiroyuki Tominaga,
  • Hiroto Tokumoto,
  • Yoichi Iizuka,
  • Eiji Takasawa,
  • Koji Akeda,
  • Norihiko Takegami,
  • Haruki Funao,
  • Yasushi Oshima,
  • Takashi Kaito,
  • Daisuke Sakai,
  • Toshitaka Yoshii,
  • Tetsuro Ohba,
  • Bungo Otsuki,
  • Shoji Seki,
  • Masashi Miyazaki,
  • Masayuki Ishihara,
  • Seiji Okada,
  • Yasuchika Aoki,
  • Katsumi Harimaya,
  • Hideki Murakami,
  • Ken Ishii,
  • Seiji Ohtori,
  • Shiro Imagama,
  • Satoshi Kato

DOI
https://doi.org/10.22603/ssrr.2021-0183
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 4
pp. 366 – 372

Abstract

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Introduction: In elderly patients with cervical spinal cord injury, comorbidities such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are common, with frequent administration of antiplatelet/anticoagulant (APAC) drugs. Such patients may bleed easily or unexpectedly during surgery despite prior withdrawal of APAC medication. Few reports have examined the precise relationship between intraoperative blood loss and history of APAC use regarding surgery for cervical spine injury in the elderly. The present multicenter database survey aimed to answer the question of whether the use of APAC drugs affected the amount of intraoperative blood loss in elderly patients with cervical spinal cord trauma. Methods: The case histories of 1512 patients with cervical spine injury at 33 institutes were retrospectively reviewed. After excluding cases without spinal surgery or known blood loss volume, 797 patients were enrolled. Blood volume loss was the outcome of interest. We calculated propensity scores using the inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) method. As an alternative sensitivity analysis, linear mixed model analyses were conducted as well. Results: Of the 776 patients (mean age: 75.1±6.4 years) eligible for IPTW calculation, 157 (20.2%) were taking APAC medications before the injury. After weighting, mean estimated blood loss was 204 mL for non-APAC patients and 215 mL for APAC patients. APAC use in elderly patients was not significantly associated with surgical blood loss according to the IPTW method with propensity scoring or linear mixed model analyses. Thus, it appeared possible to perform surgery expecting comparable blood loss in APAC and non-APAC cases. Conclusions: This multicenter study revealed no significant increase in surgical blood loss in elderly patients with cervical trauma taking APAC drugs. Surgeons may be able to prioritize patient background, complications, and preexisting conditions over APAC use before injury when examining the surgical indications for cervical spine trauma in the elderly.

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