PREPARE: the prevalence of perioperative anaemia and need for patient blood management in elective orthopaedic surgery: a multicentre, observational study.

BACKGROUND: Patient blood management (PBM) can prevent preoperative anaemia, but little is known about practice in Europe. OBJECTIVE: To assess the pre and postoperative prevalence and perioperative management of anaemia in patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery in Europe. DESIGN: An observational study; data were collected from patient records via electronic case report forms. SETTING: Seventeen centres in six European countries. Centres were stratified according to whether they had a PBM programme or not. PATIENTS: One thousand five hundred and thirty-four patients undergoing major elective hip, knee or spine surgery [49.9% hip, 37.2% knee, 13.0% spine; age 64.0 years (range 18 to 80), 61.3% female]. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence of preoperative (primary endpoint) and postoperative anaemia [haemoglobin (Hb) <13 g dl (male), Hb <12 g dl (female)], perioperative anaemia management, time to first blood transfusion and number of transfused units. Data are shown as mean (SD) or median (interquartile range). RESULTS: Anaemia prevalence increased from 14.1% preoperatively to 85.8% postoperatively. Mean Hb decrease was 1.9 (1.5) and 3.0 (1.3) g dl in preoperatively anaemic and nonanaemic patients, respectively (P < 0.001). In PBM (n = 7) vs. non-PBM centres, preoperative anaemia was less frequent (8.0 vs. 18.5%; P < 0.001) and iron status was assessed more frequently (ferritin 11.0 vs. 2.6%, transferrin saturation 11.0 vs. 0.1%; P < 0.001). Perioperative anaemia correction (mainly transfusion) was given to 34.3%. Intraoperatively, 14.8% of preoperatively anaemic and 2.8% of nonanaemic patients received transfusions [units per patient: 2.4 (1.5) and 2.2 (1.4), median time to first intraoperative transfusion: 130 (88, 158) vs. 179 (135, 256) min; P < 0.001]. Postoperative complications were more frequent in preoperatively anaemic vs. nonanaemic patients (36.9 vs. 22.2%; P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Most patients who underwent elective orthopaedic surgery had normal preoperative Hb levels but became anaemic after the procedure. Those who were anaemic prior to surgery had an increased intraoperative transfusion risk and postoperative complication rate. PBM measures such as iron status assessment and strategies to avoid transfusion are still underused in Europe.

Effectiveness and safety of ferric carboxymaltose treatment in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease and other gastrointestinal diseases.

BACKGROUND: The treatment of iron deficiency anemia in children with inflammatory bowel disease is a particular challenge and often insufficient. Absorption of orally given iron may be impaired by intestinal inflammation and treatment with oral iron may aggravate intestinal inflammation. This retrospective study is the first to describe the use of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) in the pediatric setting. METHODS: All subjects who had received at least one dose of FCM intravenously in the observation period were included in this analysis with data collected for up to 3 months post last FCM dose. RESULTS: In total, 72 children between 0 and 18 years with underlying gastrointestinal disorders had been treated for concomitant iron deficiency anemia. The majority of patients had Crohn's disease (40.3%) or ulcerative colitis (30.5%). The total number of FCM administrations was 147, the mean number per patient was 2.0 and the mean cumulative dose 821 mg iron (median single dose: 500 mg; max. 1000 mg). Post administration of FCM, correction of iron deficiency anemia was observed with improved mean hemoglobin levels from 9.5 g/dL at baseline to 11.9 g/dL within 5-12 weeks. Decreases in white cell count, platelets and C-reactive protein were observed post FCM, potentially suggesting reduced inflammation with iron repletion. Three subjects reported mild adverse drug reactions related to FCM; two of these were considered to be potentially related to long duration of administration and to high volume of saline solution for dilution. As such, the method of administration was amended to have a maximum infusion time of 60 minutes and dilution with less than or equal to 100 mL saline solution. CONCLUSIONS: Overall FCM was well tolerated in this pediatric population and appeared to be effective in correcting iron deficiency anemia. We cannot exclude that the correction of iron deficiency anaemia is in some part due to the treatment of the underlying disease and not related to the iron supplementation only.