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No cause for delaying hip fracture surgery found in patients receiving antiplatelet drugs
Chechik O. Injury. 2011;42:1277-1282.
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Hip fracture surgery need not be delayed because patients are receiving antiplatelet drugs, researchers for a study of blood loss and surgery-related complications found.
“Notably, delay of surgical intervention for hip fracture repair for more than 48 hours has been reported to increase perioperative complications and mortality,” the researchers wrote.
Researchers measured intraoperative and perioperative blood loss, the volume of transfused blood and surgery-related complications in two groups. One group of 44 patients received continuous clopidogrel treatment while a control group of 44 patients did not receive clopidogrel (either aspirin alone or not on any antiplatelet therapy).
The team reported mean perioperative blood loss of 899 ± 496 mL for patients not on clopidogrel, 1,091 ± 654 mL for those on clopidogrel and 1,312 ± 686 mL for those on combined clopidogrel and aspirin. No cases of mortality were reported in the early postoperative period. A shorter time to operation and prolonged surgical time were associated with increased blood loss.
Although the researchers said the antiplatelet effect ceases in nearly 10 days, “their (antiplatelet drugs) effect on surgery-related blood loss and perioperative complications is unclear and management of trauma patients treated by antiplatelets is controversial.”
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