Study Design and Setting
This single-center retrospective observational cohort study was approved by the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Institutional Review Board (IRB#191843) with a waiver of informed consent and HIPAA authorization. We identified pediatric patients (birth to 12 years) who had undergone CCVR at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt (MCJCHV) between September 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019. Using the electronic health record (EHR), we extracted information from the date of surgery to 30 days postoperatively. We collected clinical information including demographics, suture type, blood loss, transfusion data, hematologic laboratory parameters, antifibrinolytic medication use, ICU and total hospital length of stay, and adverse outcomes. We recorded the following clinical laboratory values during the perioperative period: hematocrit, platelet count, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (PTT), and fibrinogen. Blood loss measurements included intraoperative estimated blood loss, postoperative drain volumes, calculated blood loss, and estimated blood volume10: