Optimizing the transfusion strategy in surgical patients in a Lebanese university hospital.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Our aim was to analyze factors that influence transfusion requirements in surgical patients in order to achieve a transfusion-saving strategy. METHODS: Data was collected from patient's files at the Notre Dame de Secours-Jbeil University Hospital Center between January 2017 and June 2019. Selection was made for 400 patients who had undergone surgery and required transfusion. The studied variables were age, sex, and type of surgery whether planned or urgent with its expected level of bleeding. The presence of chronic anemia, coronary artery disease, values of hemoglobin and hematocrit before and after transfusion, iron status preoperatively, and post-operation complications were also noted. RESULTS: The analysis of 400 transfused surgical patients showed that the mean age was 62 ± 18 years with 52.5% women and 47.5% men. In 82.3% of patients, surgical bleeding was expected, 77.8% of surgeries were scheduled, and 22.3% were urgent. Fifty-two percent of patients were known to have coronary artery disease. Orthopedic (35%) and cardiothoracic (29.5%) surgeries had the highest transfusion rate. Among all patients, only 106 patients (26.5%) underwent a preoperative iron workup. The pre-transfusion levels of hemoglobin were 9.9 ± 0.6 and hematocrit of 29.7 ± 1.9. 26.3% of patients had a post-transfusion complication. On the other hand, 19.5% of women and 20% of men were already anemic when admitted to the hospital. Anemic women required 7.6 times more transfusions than non-anemic, while anemic men required 12.38 times more transfusions than non-anemic men. Age, presence of coronary artery disease, and chronic anemia have been found to be factors increasing the risk of post-transfusion complications. Finally, urgent and unplanned surgeries are 2.9 times more likely to cause post-transfusion complications. CONCLUSION: This study therefore confirms that anemic patients are more likely to receive perioperative blood transfusions. Consequently, in order to reduce blood transfusion and its complications, it would be beneficial primarily to diagnose and treat anemia preoperatively. Other transfusion-saving strategies could also be useful in the setting of surgical bleeding, such as the use of tranexamic acid and different autologous transfusion methods like the cell saver.

Epidemiology of pathogens causing acute diarrhea in patients presenting to the emergency departments in 4 hospitals in Lebanon.

Acute diarrhea is a prevalent disease worldwide and a cause of mortality in low and middle-income countries. In previous studies, the causative enteropathogen is found in 38% to 58% of patients, leaving a considerable diagnostic gap. In this study, we intend to determine the pathogenic agents responsible for acute diarrhea in patients presenting to the Emergency Departments of several Lebanese hospitals. A total of 100 stool samples were collected between June 2022 and June 2023 from patients presenting with acute diarrhea to the Emergency Departments. Pathogens were detected by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. The average age for the patients was 53 years old. All patients presented with diarrhea, 15 of them had fever associated. In total, 46 patients were admitted to the hospital (70%), among them 80% received Intravenous antibiotics. Campylobacter was the most common agent detected in 36%, followed by Rotavirus 19%, and Noroviruses 15%. The rest was detected at lower percentages. Bacteria accounted for 49% of cases, viruses for 39%, and parasitic infection 6%. Acute diarrhea epidemiology is understudied in Lebanon. This study is the first Lebanese data about acute diarrhea pathogens. Avoiding overuse of antibiotics in bacterial versus viral infections can be achieved while prevention campaigns can raise awareness about food and water safety at the community level.

Out of hospital cardiac arrest outcomes: Impact of weekdays vs weekends admission on survival to hospital discharge.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrests are a leading cause of mortality with survival of only 12%. In the United States, cardiac arrests were significantly more likely to occur on Saturdays. Hospitals experience a decrease in staffing on weekends. This study aims to assess the relationship between weekend vs weekday admission and outcomes of patients presenting with out of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) in the United States. METHODS: This retrospective study utilized the 2014 US National Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) database. Patients who sustained out of hospital cardiac arrests were included using ICD-9-CM codes. Descriptive analysis was conducted, followed by bivariate analysis to compare the collected variables by admission day. Multivariate analysis was done to assess the impact of weekday vs weekend admission on survival of cardiac arrests patients after adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: A total of 145,774 patients with cardiac arrest were included in this study. Mean age was 65.9 years with male predominance of 61.8%. Almost 71% of cardiac arrests took place on a weekday. As an overall outcome, only 5.7% patients survived to hospital discharge. After adjusting for significant confounders, patients presenting on weekends were less likely to survive compared to those admitted on weekdays (OR = 0.833, 95% CI: 0.727-0.954). CONCLUSION: In this study, patients with OHCA admitted to the ED on weekends had slightly lower survival compared to those admitted on weekdays. Modifiable factors should be identified in future studies to reduce outcome discrepancies and improve survival in this patient population.

Is direct coronary stenting the best strategy for long-term outcome? Results of the multicentric randomized benefit evaluation of direct coronary stenting (BET) study.

BACKGROUND: Preliminary trials of direct coronary stenting have demonstrated the benefits of this approach. It lowers procedural cost, time, and radiation exposure compared with predilatation. Nevertheless, the long-term outcome after direct stenting remains less well known. METHODS: Between January and September 1999, 338 patients were randomly assigned to either direct stent implantation (DS+, n = 173) or standard stent implantation with balloon predilatation (DS-, n = 165). Clinical follow-up was performed. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were similar in the 2 groups. Procedural success was achieved in 98.3% of patients assigned to DS+ and 97.5% of patients assigned to DS- (not significant). Clinical follow-up was obtained in 99% of patients (mean 16.4 +/- 4.6 months). Major adverse cardiac events--defined as whichever of the following occurred first; cardiac death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina, new revascularization--were observed at a higher rate in the DS+ group than in the DS-, but this difference was not significant (11.3% vs 18.2%, P = not significant). The difference in target lesion revascularization rate in the DS+ group (7%) and DS- group (5.2%) was also not significant. Multivariate analysis showed that direct stenting had no influence on long-term major adverse cardiac events rate. Independent relationships were found between long-term major adverse cardiac events rate and final minimal lumen diameter <2.48 mm (relative risk [RR] 0.449, CI 0.239-0.845, P =.013), prior myocardial infarction (RR 2.028, CI 1.114-3.69, P =.02), and hypertension (RR 1.859, CI 1.022-3.383, P =.042). CONCLUSION: The main finding that emerges from this randomized study is that the influence of direct stenting on long-term need for new target lesion revascularization does not differ from that of stenting with balloon predilatation.