A secure blood-saving protocol for Jehovah’s Witnesses in primary total hip replacement
Mustafa Fatih Dasci1
, Ozkan Kose2, Beatriz Fernandez Maza1,3, Beren Gozacan1, N Amir Sandiford4, Thorsten Gehrke1, Mustafa Citak1
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Helios ENDO-Klinik Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
2Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Türkiye
3Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospital of Puerta de Hierro, Majadahahonda, Madrid, Spain
4Joint Reconstruction Unit, Southland Hospital, University of Otago, Invercargill, New Zealand
Keywords: Blood loss, blood management, Jehovah's Witness, total hip arthroplasty, total hip replacement, transfusion.
Abstract
Objectives: The study aimed to analyze the efficacy of the blood management protocol developed by our team for patients who are Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) presenting for primary total hip replacement (THR).
Patients and methods: Thirty JW patients (6 males, 24 females; mean age: 70.1±9.8 years; range, 65 to 81 years) and 30 age- and sex-matched controls (6 males, 24 females; mean age: 68.7±9.1 years; range, 62 to 79 years) who underwent primary THR at our institution between January 2018 and June 2020 were retrospectively evaluated. While the surgical technique of THR was not different among the groups, blood loss management differed between the groups. Patients in the control group were given 1 g of intravenous tranexamic acid (TXA) 15 min before the surgical incision. In addition to the same TXA protocol, intraoperative cell salvage with a continuous autologous transfusion system was used for JW patients. The estimated blood loss (EBL) was determined using Meunier's formula. Hemoglobin (Hgb) decline, EBL on the first and third postoperative days, allogenic blood transfusion (ABT) requirement, and complications were analyzed between groups.
Results: There were no significant differences between groups regarding demographic and clinical characteristics (p>0.05), ABT requirement (p>0.999), and Hgb decline in the first and third postoperative days (p=0.540 and p=0.836, respectively). Furthermore, both groups did not significantly differ between EBL in the first and third postoperative days (p=0.396 and p=0.616, respectively) and the length of hospital stay (p=0.547). Similar complication rates were noted for both groups. Hemoglobin level assessments revealed that values on the first and third postoperative days were significantly lower than the baseline Hgb value in both cohorts (p<0.001).
Conclusion: A combination of intravenous administration of 1 g of TXA, meticulous hemostasis, and intraoperative use of cell saver constitutes a reasonable strategy for achieving the goal of transfusion-free primary THR with predictable levels of blood loss that are similar to non-JW patients.
Citation: Dasci MF, Kose O, Maza BF, Gozacan B, Sandiford NA, Gehrke T, et al. A secure blood-saving protocol for Jehovah’s Witnesses in primary total hip replacement. Jt Dis Relat Surg 2024;35(1):12-19. doi: 10.52312/jdrs.2024.1272.
The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee (date: 6.5.2017, no: 069/20). The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
A written informed consent was obtained from each patient.
Writing, editing, analysis: M.F.D.; Writing, data collection, statistics: O.K.; Data collection, analysis: B.F.M.; Data collection, proofreading, editing: B.G.; Supervision, proofreading, editing: N.A.S.; Supervision, proofreading: T.G.; Supervision, proofreading, editing: M.C.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.