The management of perioperative bleeding

Excess perioperative bleeding remains a major complication following surgery, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. The principal causes of non-surgical haemostatic perioperative bleeding are a pre-existing undetected bleeding disorder, related to the nature of the operation itself or from coagulation abnormalities arising from massive blood loss. Very often, it is a combination and coexistence of various pathologies. Identifying patients at risk remains a major component of preventing excessive blood loss. Understanding the haemostatic changes occurring in the perioperative period, especially in complex procedures like cardiopulmonary bypass and orthotopic liver transplantation is crucial in developing new strategies for the management of perioperative bleeding. Pharmacological interventions, especially aprotinin, tranexamic acid, desmopressin and increasingly, recombinant VIIa are being used both in prophylaxis and therapeutically to stop bleeding. The use of near patient testing like thromboelastography and platelet function analyser has allowed for more detailed assessment of the various steps of haemostasis. One of the main goals is to reduce the usage of allogeneic blood transfusion and its attendant risks.