RESULTS
Fifty patients meeting the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study
(mean age 63.08 ± 10.77 years, 78% male). Demographic features and
patients characteristics are listed in Table 1 . Mean duration
of operation was 290.70 ± 53.02 minutes and median aortic cross clamp
time was 65.5 (56 - 76) minutes. Median intraoperative UF heparin dose
was 45 (45 - 50) x 103 units. Overall, 38% of the
subjects had received erythrocyte suspension and 18% had received fresh
frozen plasma during the operation. Postoperative drainage volumes at
the 2nd, 4th, 6th,
12th, and 24th hours were 100 (50 -
200) mL, 200 (150 - 300) mL, 300 (200 - 400) mL, 450 (350 - 550) mL, and
525 (400 - 700) mL, respectively. With regard to the distribution of
postoperative transfusions, it was found that 26% of the study subjects
received 1 unit of erythrocyte suspension, 26% received 2 units of
erythrocyte suspension, and 10 % received 3 units of erythrocyte
suspension. For fresh frozen plasma, the distributions were: 1 unit in
12%, 2 units in 28%, and 3 units in 14% of the study subjects. Median
length of hospital stay was 6 (6 - 8) days. In-hospital mortality
occurred in 2% of the patients (Table 2) .
The change in blood test results throughout the hospitalization are
presented in Table 3. A significant increase in IPC and IPF
values was observed at the postoperative first day compared to baseline
values. Preoperative IPC and IPF were negatively correlated with
intraoperative blood transfusion (p=0.017, and p=0.049, respectively).
Duration of the operation, preoperative hemoglobin and hematocrit levels
were significantly correlated with the length of hospital stay(Table 4) .
Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine
significant associates of the amount of blood components used. We found
that longer duration of operation (p=0.002) and higher preoperative MPV
values (p=0.031) were associated with higher numbers of blood components
used (Table 5) . Other variables included in the model, age
(p=0.099), gender (p=0.245), surgery (p=0.859), aortic cross-clamp
duration (p=0.744), intraoperative heparin (p=0.538), preoperative red
blood cell count (p=0.268), preoperative hemoglobin (p=0.162),
preoperative hematocrit (p=0.295), preoperative platelet (p=0.936),
preoperative IPF (p=0.376), preoperative IPC (p=0.315) and preoperative
INR (p=0.903) were found to be non-significant.