New haemostat in thoracic surgery

The authors present the results of a promising method to reduce peroperative bleeding in thoracic surgery within large thoracic surgical interventions. Usage of a resorbable haemostat on the basis of oxidized cellulose in the form of cotton wool may minimize the cause of bleeding, mainly in patients with post-inflammatory thoracic complications. The strong point of this material is its easy application and malleability. Another advantage is the long-term antibacterial effect caused by lowering pH during its biodegradation.

Retrospective evaluation of post-operative blood losses, time of thoracic drainage, length of hospitalisation, and development of inflammatory indicators between groups using and not using haemostats.

A group consisted of 48 patients (group A), who underwent operation for post-inflammatory thoracic complications and where haemostat was used. Using the pair selection method, 48 patients were selected to the control group B, where no haemostats were applied during operation. The selection depended on a similar demographic profile, identical diagnosis, and a type of operations. Post-operational blood loss, dynamics of haematological profile, time of thoracic drainage, blood parameters value, inflammatory response of the organism, and length of hospitalisation.

A key differentiation of dynamics in development was found between the groups in the concentration of haemoglobin and haematocrit in the post-operative period, in the time of thoracic drainage, and in total length of hospitalisation. A sudden rise of CRP serum values in the group A after 12 hours after application of haemostat was recorded, most probably as manifestation of the aseptic pleuritic (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 16).