Is It Rational to Study Coagulations Test Routinely before Operations and Invasive Procedure: Single Center Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: Detailed history taking, physical examination and laboratory tests are useful tools to document any abnormal bleeding risk before an operation or an invasive procedure. Although coagulation tests are routinely used to demonstrate the pathological situations at the coagulation cascade or to follow-up the anticoagulation therapies, their role in determining the bleeding risk in preoperative patients is controversial.

Materials and Methods: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the patients referring to our hematology clinic at Izmir Katip Celebi University Hospital for preoperative consultation due to elevated levels of coagulation tests.

Results: Fifty-six patients with high PT/PTT levels were enrolled in this study. Twenty-six (46.4%) patients were male and 30 (53.6%) were female. The median age was 34 (18-75) years. We documented bleeding history in 12 (21.4%) patients. The patients having a bleeding history revealed mostly abnormal uterine bleeding, epistaxis, and gingival bleeding. Life threatening bleeding was not reported in any of the patients.  The operations were cancelled or postponed at least one month in 38 (67.8%) and 10 (17.8%) patients, respectively. Per-operative or post-operative abnormal bleeding was not documented. We did not find any statistically significant difference between groups with or without elevated coagulation tests in terms of abnormal bleeding in the operations.

Conclusion: Coagulations tests should be studied in selected group of patients. Additionally, mildly elevated results should be interpreted carefully to decrease the rate of cancellation and delay in operations and unnecessary increase in costs.