Contemporary management of neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia: good outcomes in the intravenous immunoglobulin era: results from the Australian neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia registry.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the natural history, antenatal and postnatal therapy, and clinical outcomes of Australian patients with fetomaternal/neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT) recorded in the Australian NAIT registry. METHODS: Analysis of registry data of Australian mothers treated antenatally for NAIT and any fetus/newborn with thrombocytopenia (TCP) and maternal human platelet antigen (HPA) antibodies. RESULTS: Ninety four potential cases (91 pregnancies; three twin pregnancies) were registered between December 2004 and September 2015 with 76 confirmed or treated as NAIT. NAIT was frequently unanticipated (44 cases, 58%), whilst 32 cases (42%) were anticipated due to personal or family history. In 70/76 cases, the diagnosis of NAIT was made based on HPA antibody results; anti-HPA-1a was most commonly detected (58/70, 82%), followed by anti-HPA-5b (5/70, 7%). Intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) was detected in seven cases (9%). Maternal antenatal therapy resulted in improved clinical outcomes. For antenatally treated cases, whilst 10/29 (34%) neonates had severe TCP, only one ICH was detected. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data on contemporary "real world" management of Australian mothers and babies with NAIT. Antenatal IVIG therapy was associated with better neonatal outcomes. Maternal side-effects and treatment costs were substantial.

Transfusion practice varies widely in cardiac surgery: Results from a national registry.

OBJECTIVES: Evidence is accumulating of adverse outcomes associated with transfusion of blood components. If there are differences in perioperative transfusion rates in cardiac surgery, and what hospital factors may contribute, requires further investigation. METHODS: Analysis of 42,743 adult patients who underwent 43,482 procedures from 2005 to 2011 at 25 Australian hospitals, according to the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons Cardiac Surgery Database. Multiple logistic regression examined associations of patient and hospital characteristics with transfusion of ≥1 red blood cell (RBC) unit; platelet (PLT), fresh frozen plasma (FFP), and cryoprecipitate (CRYO) doses; and ≥5 RBC units, from surgery until hospital discharge. RESULTS: Procedures included 24,222 (55%) isolated coronary artery bypass grafts, 7299 (17%) isolated valve, 4714 (11%) coronary artery bypass graft and valve, and 7247 (17%) other procedures. After adjustment for various patient and procedure characteristics, transfusion rates varied across hospitals for ≥1 RBC unit from 22% to 67%, ≥5 RBC units from 5% to 25%, ≥1 PLT dose from 11% to 39%, ≥1 FFP dose from 11% to 48% and ≥1 CRYO dose from 1% to 20%. Hospital characteristics, including state or territory, private versus public, and teaching versus nonteaching, were not associated with variation in transfusion rates. CONCLUSIONS: Variation in transfusion of all components and large volume RBC was identified, even after adjustment for patient and procedural factors known to influence transfusion, and this was not explained by hospital characteristics.

Use of recombinant activated factor VII in Jehovah's Witness patients with critical bleeding.

INTRODUCTION: The Australian and New Zealand Haemostasis Registry (ANZHR) included patients who received off-licence recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) for critical bleeding from 2000 to 2009. Approximately 1.3% of the ANZHR patients were Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs). We compared them with the non-JW patients in the registry. METHODS: Patient characteristics (e.g. gender, context of bleeding), factors influencing rFVIIa use (e.g. body temperature and pH) and outcomes (e.g. bleeding response (stopped/attenuated or unchanged) to rFVIIa, mortality) were compared between JW and non-JW patients using Fisher's exact chi-square tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: A total of 42 JW and 3134 non-JW patients were included in the analysis. Approximately 99% (n = 3098) of non-JWs received blood products compared with only 30% (n = 13) of JWs (P < 0.01). The distribution of gender and contexts of critical bleeding in the two groups was significantly different. Approximately 17% of the non-JW patients were hypothermic (T < 35°C) and about 19% were acidotic (pH < 7.2) at the time of initial rFVIIa administration. Conversely, none of the JWs were hypothermic and only one was acidotic. The proportion of positive responders to rFVIIa (stopped/attenuated bleeding following rFVIIa use) was similar in both groups (75% non-JWs, 74% JWs; P = 1.0). Approximately 28% of non-JW and 17% of JW patients were deceased by day 28 following rFVIIa use (P = 0.16). DISCUSSION: Several factors were observed to be significantly different between JW and non-JW patients, yet the proportions of responders to rFVIIa were similar in both groups. The actual factors influencing response to rFVIIa are yet to be determined.

Off-label use of recombinant factor VIIa in pediatric patients.

OBJECTIVE: To examine off-label recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) use in pediatric patients including clinical indications, dose, adverse events, and outcomes. METHODS: All pediatric patients entered into the Haemostasis Registry from 75 participating hospitals were analyzed. RESULTS: Three hundred and eighty-eight pediatric patients received off-label rFVIIa from 2003 to 2009. Median age was 12 months (interquartile range 1 month to 11 years). Clinical context included cardiac surgery (52.1%), medical (11.6%), other surgery (10.8%), hematology/oncology (10.3%), trauma (9.3%), intracranial hemorrhage (3.1%), and liver disease (2.8%). Twenty-six patients received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation at the time of rFVIIa administration. Median first dose was 114 µg/kg (interquartile range 90-181; range 7-2250). Thirty-four percent received >1 dose. There was a reduction in usage of red blood cells, platelets, fresh-frozen plasma, and cryoprecipitate in the 24 hours after the first dose for all patients (all P values < .001). Thromboembolic adverse events (TEAs) were reported in 5.4%. No association between TEA and size of first dose was found. Where data were available, 82% of patients were subjectively classified as responding to rFVIIa. Overall 28-day mortality was 27%. In multivariate analysis, pH values before administration and clinical context were independently associated with response to first dose and 28-day mortality. CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant reduction in blood product administration after rFVIIa and a subjective response rate of 82%. Both pH and clinical context were associated with response to rFVIIa and mortality. Overall, 5.4% had a TEA reported.

A review on decision support for massive transfusion: understanding human factors to support the implementation of complex interventions in trauma.

BACKGROUND: Critically bleeding trauma patients require coordinated and efficient decision-making processes to ensure optimal management of their massive transfusion (MT) requirements. Human factors (HFs) is a discipline that investigates factors influencing work processes from the organizational, group, and individual levels. Given the complexity of trauma resuscitation, implementing any intervention for decision support in MT is challenging and may benefit from a HFs-assisted approach. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A systematic review was performed to identify reports of the introduction of any type of decision support for the provision of MT in critically bleeding adult trauma patients. Crucial contributions reported to influence design and uptake of the intervention were categorized into four HFs categories (environment, human, machine, and task). Extracted information was supplemented by surveying the contact authors. Evidence of clinical practice changes resulting from the intervention was also considered. RESULTS: We identified nine studies that had reported an intervention implementing new practice guidelines or a MT protocol. All were before-and-after comparative cohort studies and used historical controls as the preintervention cohort. CONCLUSION: Based on the identified reports, this review provides a HFs-assisted approach to aid clinicians and policy makers with the implementation of decision support for MT in the trauma care setting.

Monitoring drug safety with registries: useful components of postmarketing pharmacovigilance systems.

OBJECTIVE: At the time of licensing by regulatory agencies, the full range of risks and possible adverse drug reactions associated with a medication is rarely fully realized. This commentary aims to describe the role of registries as useful components of postmarketing pharmacovigilance systems for monitoring highly specialized medications associated with significant financial costs. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We consider the limitations of traditional pharmacovigilance programs and discuss the strengths, limitations, and uses of registries in postmarketing pharmacovigilance systems. RESULTS: Registries have become increasingly appealing in postmarketing surveillance of medications; however, their exact role continues to evolve. Key registry projects, including the Prospective Immunogenicity Surveillance Registry, British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register, Australian Rheumatology Association Database, the Haemostasis Registry, and the Bosentan Patient Registry highlight the value of registries for monitoring the incidence of rare adverse events. CONCLUSION: Although often limited by lack of a control group and the need for complete case ascertainment to maintain data integrity, registries are a useful component of postmarketing pharmacovigilance systems for monitoring highly specialized medications associated with significant financial costs.

Use of recombinant factor VIIa in patients with amniotic fluid embolism: a systematic review of case reports.

BACKGROUND: Patients with amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) (major cardiac and pulmonary symptoms plus consumptive coagulopathy) have high circulating tissue factor concentrations. Recombinant factor VIIa (rVIIa) has been used to treat hemorrhage in AFE patients even though rVIIa can combine with circulating tissue factor and form intravascular clots. A systematic review was done of case reports from 2003 to 2009 of AFE patients with massive hemorrhage who were and were not treated with rVIIa to assess the thrombotic complication risk. METHODS: MEDLINE was searched for case reports of AFE patients receiving rVIIa (rVIIa cases) and of AFE patients who received surgery to control bleeding but no rVIIa (cohorts who did not receive rVIIa). Additional AFE case reports were obtained from the Food and Drug Administration, the Australian and New Zealand Haemostasis Registry, and scientific meeting abstracts. The risk of a negative outcome (permanent disability or death) in rVIIa cases versus cohorts who did not receive rVIIa was calculated using risk ratio and 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: Sixteen rVIIa cases and 28 cohorts were identified who did not receive rVIIa. All patients had surgery to control bleeding. Death, permanent disability, and full recovery occurred in 8, 6, and 2 rVIIa cases and 7, 4, and 17 cohorts who did not receive rVIIa (risk ratio 2.2, 95% CI 1.4-3.7 for death or permanent disability vs. full recovery). CONCLUSION: Recombinant factor VIIa cases had significantly worse outcomes than cohorts who did not receive rVIIa. It is recommended that rVIIa be used in AFE patients only when the hemorrhage cannot be stopped by massive blood component replacement.

Age of red blood cells and mortality in the critically ill.

INTRODUCTION: In critically ill patients, it is uncertain whether exposure to older red blood cells (RBCs) may contribute to mortality. We therefore aimed to evaluate the association between the age of RBCs and outcome in a large unselected cohort of critically ill patients in Australia and New Zealand. We hypothesized that exposure to even a single unit of older RBCs may be associated with an increased risk of death. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, multicenter observational study in 47 ICUs during a 5-week period between August 2008 and September 2008. We included 757 critically ill adult patients receiving at least one unit of RBCs. To test our hypothesis we compared hospital mortality according to quartiles of exposure to maximum age of RBCs without and with adjustment for possible confounding factors. RESULTS: Compared with other quartiles (mean maximum red cell age 22.7 days; mortality 121/568 (21.3%)), patients treated with exposure to the lowest quartile of oldest RBCs (mean maximum red cell age 7.7 days; hospital mortality 25/189 (13.2%)) had an unadjusted absolute risk reduction in hospital mortality of 8.1% (95% confidence interval = 2.2 to 14.0%). After adjustment for Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III score, other blood component transfusions, number of RBC transfusions, pretransfusion hemoglobin concentration, and cardiac surgery, the odds ratio for hospital mortality for patients exposed to the older three quartiles compared with the lowest quartile was 2.01 (95% confidence interval = 1.07 to 3.77). CONCLUSIONS: In critically ill patients, in Australia and New Zealand, exposure to older RBCs is independently associated with an increased risk of death.

Identifying and improving unreliable items in registries through data auditing.

OBJECTIVE: Assessing the reliability of clinical registries is important for ensuring the availability of credible data. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the reliability of data collected by the Australian and New Zealand Haemostasis Registry (the registry). DESIGN: Data from 5% of randomly selected registry cases were re-abstracted by an independent data auditor who was blinded to the results of the original data abstraction. Categorical data were investigated for agreement between original and re-abstracted data. The mean difference and standard deviations (SD) of differences were calculated for continuous variables. We estimated a 'prediction interval' as the mean difference ± twice the SD of differences. We computed a coefficient of variation as the SD of differences. SETTING: The registry records all cases of off-licence use of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) at participating institutions (on-licence use of rFVIIa is not recorded). RESULTS: Data on 76 registry cases (6% of registry) were re-abstracted. Various parameters demonstrated high levels of inter-rater reliability, including age, gender and intensive care unit admission (88, 99 and 99% agreement, respectively). Other variables were highly unreliable, including crystalloid infusion volumes (coefficient of variation 123.01%), red blood cell units (92.05%) and time from bleeding onset to administration of rFVIIa (153.06%). CONCLUSIONS: Registry audits are useful for identifying variables with poor reliability. Repeated audits will not improve data reliability; however, they can assist in identifying and evaluating the impact of modified data collection processes on improving data reliability.

Hospital blood bank information systems accurately reflect patient transfusion: results of a validation study.

BACKGROUND: Hospital transfusion laboratories collect information regarding blood transfusion and some registries gather clinical outcomes data without transfusion information, providing an opportunity to integrate these two sources to explore effects of transfusion on clinical outcomes. However, the use of laboratory information system (LIS) data for this purpose has not been validated previously. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Validation of LIS data against individual patient records was undertaken at two major centers. Data regarding all transfusion episodes were analyzed over seven 24-hour periods. RESULTS: Data regarding 596 units were captured including 399 red blood cell (RBC), 95 platelet (PLT), 72 plasma, and 30 cryoprecipitate units. They were issued to: inpatient 221 (37.1%), intensive care 109 (18.3%), outpatient 95 (15.9%), operating theater 45 (7.6%), emergency department 27 (4.5%), and unrecorded 99 (16.6%). All products recorded by LIS as issued were documented as transfused to intended patients. Median time from issue to transfusion initiation could be calculated for 535 (89.8%) components: RBCs 16 minutes (95% confidence interval [CI], 15-18 min; interquartile range [IQR], 7-30 min), PLTs 20 minutes (95% CI, 15-22 min; IQR, 10-37 min), fresh-frozen plasma 33 minutes (95% CI, 14-83 min; IQR, 11-134 min), and cryoprecipitate 3 minutes (95% CI, -10 to 42 min; IQR, -15 to 116 min). CONCLUSIONS: Across a range of blood component types and destinations comparison of LIS data with clinical records demonstrated concordance. The difference between LIS timing data and patient clinical records reflects expected time to transport, check, and prepare transfusion but does not affect the validity of linkage for most research purposes. Linkage of clinical registries with LIS data can therefore provide robust information regarding individual patient transfusion. This enables analysis of joint data sets to determine the impact of transfusion on clinical outcomes.

Recombinant activated factor VII in liver patients: a retrospective cohort study from Australia and New Zealand.

Recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) is used in the treatment of life-threatening haemorrhage that is refractory to conventional treatment. The evidence supporting this practice in patients with liver disease is very limited. It has been used as a salvage therapy in end-stage liver disease (ESLD), in orthotopic liver transplant (OLT), other surgery, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) subpopulations. It has also been used prior to procedures in patients with ESLD. Data were collected by the Australia and New Zealand Haemostasis Registry (ANZHR) to perform a retrospective cohort study on the different subgroups of liver patients. This included 115 cases of use of rFVIIa in liver patients from 20 hospitals. A retrospective cohort study on the different subgroups of liver patients was performed. Main outcome measures were reduction or cessation of bleeding and 28-day mortality. Variables previously shown to predict response to bleeding after administration of rFVIIa were examined to determine whether correlations exist. Salvage therapy with rFVIIa was associated with reduction or cessation in bleeding in 24 of 36 OLT patients, 24 of 36 UGIB patients and 15 of 26 of other surgery patients. Clinical response to rFVIIa in OLT patients and other surgery patients was associated with a significantly lower mortality compared to nonresponders (P = 0.003 and 0.022, respectively). There was no relationship between mortality and bleeding response in patients with UGIB. Variables including acidosis, hypothermia, hypofibrinogenaemia, thrombocytopenia and Model of End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score were not associated with clinical response to rFVIIa. Five cases of use prior to procedures are described. Recombinant FVIIa is used as rescue therapy in surgical patients with ESLD and refractory haemorrhage in Australia and New Zealand. Traditional haemostasis variables were not associated with clinical response to rFVIIa in this cohort. Response to rFVIIa is associated with decreased mortality in ESLD patients undergoing OLT and other surgery, but not in UGIB.

Recombinant activated factor VII in obstetric hemorrhage: experiences from the Australian and New Zealand Haemostasis Registry.

OBJECTIVE: Through the Australian and New Zealand Haemostasis Registry, we report on the Australian and New Zealand experience with recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) in obstetric patients. METHODS: The role of rFVIIa for off-label indications, including trauma, cardiac surgery, and severe postpartum hemorrhage, remains controversial. The Haemostasis Registry established by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia monitors off-label use of rFVIIa across Australia and New Zealand. The purpose of this study was to summarize Registry data for all obstetric hemorrhage patients treated with rFVIIa at participating hospitals between January 2002 and July 2008. The primary outcome measures were reduction or cessation of bleeding (positive therapeutic response), mortality, and hysterectomy rate. RESULTS: During the study period, the Registry received data for 2128 patients. This included 110 cases of administration of rFVIIa in obstetric patients from 38 hospitals, comprising 5% of the total Registry population, 105 of whom were treated for acute hemorrhage. Women received median (interquartile range) individual doses of 92 microg/kg (73-100) of rFVIIa (median total dose 92 microg/kg [58-108]), and 78% of patients received a single dose. The positive response rate to rFVIIa was 76% with 64% responding to the first dose. Ninety-one percent of women were alive at 28 days. Forty-three women (41%) underwent hysterectomy before receiving rFVIIa and, of those remaining, 13 (21%) required hysterectomy after rFVIIa therapy. Two thromboembolic events (1 pulmonary embolism and 1 deep venous thrombosis) and 1 case of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy resulting from severe anoxia were reported. CONCLUSIONS: The reported effect of rFVIIa in many, but not all, obstetric cases was positive. There was no mortality as a result of thromboembolic complications. Randomized, controlled trials are required to confirm its safety and efficacy and to assess the possibility that use at an earlier stage in treatment of severe postpartum hemorrhage may avoid the need to resort to postpartum hysterectomy for control of bleeding, thus preserving fertility.

TAXONOMY OF THE NEW ZEALAND-ENDEMIC GENUS PLEUROSTICHIDIUM (RHODOMELACEAE, RHODOPHYTA).

A morphological, anatomical, and molecular study of the tribe Pleurostichidieae (Rhodomelaceae, Ceramiales) is presented. New collections of its only member, Pleurostichidium falkenbergii Heydrich, have enabled a thorough re-assessment of this species from a classical-morphological standpoint and have allowed the first photographs to be made of critical features of this little-known obligate epiphyte of the brown alga Xiphophora chondrophylla (Turner) Montagne ex Harvey. The relationship of the tribe to other members of the Rhodomelaceae is considered based on analysis of 18S rDNA sequences from P. falkenbergii, 14 other rhodomelaceous species, and six outgroup taxa. Pleurostichidium falkenbergii is shown to be most closely related to the tribe Polysiphonieae and only distantly related to the Amansieae, with which it was previously associated.