Early Point-of-Care Thromboelastometry Reduces Mortality in Patients with Severe Trauma and Risk of Transfusion: An...

Background: Thromboelastometry like ROTEM^® is a point-of-care method used to assess the coagulation status of patients in a rapid manner being particularly useful in critical care settings, such as trauma, where quick and accurate assessment of coagulation can guide timely and appropriate treatment. Currently, this method is not yet comprehensively available with sparse data on its effectiveness in resuscitation rooms. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of early thromboelastometry on the probability of mass transfusions and mortality of severely injured patients. Methods: The TraumaRegister DGU^® was retrospectively analyzed for severely injured patients (2011 until 2020) with information available regarding blood transfusions and Trauma-Associated Severe Hemorrhage (TASH) score components. Patients with an estimated risk of mass transfusion >2% were included in a matched-pair analysis. Cases with and without use of ROTEM^® diagnostic were matched based on risk categories for mass transfusion. A total of 1722 patients with ROTEM^® diagnostics could be matched with a non-ROTEM^® patient with an identical risk category. Adult patients (≥16) admitted to a trauma center in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland with Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale severity ≥3 were included. Results: A total of 83,798 trauma victims were identified after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. For 7740 of these patients, the use of ROTEM^® was documented. The mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) in patients with ROTEM^® was 24.3 compared to 19.7 in the non-ROTEM^® group. The number of mass transfusions showed no significant difference (14.9% ROTEM^® group vs. 13.4% non-ROTEM^® group, p = 0.45). Coagulation management agents were given significantly more often in the ROTEM^® subgroup. Mortality in the ROTEM^® group was 4.1% less than expected (estimated mortality based on RISC II 34.6% vs. observed mortality 30.5% (n = 525)). In the non-ROTEM^® group, observed mortality was 1.6% less than expected. Therefore, by using ROTEM^® analysis, the expected mortality could be reduced by 2.5% (number needed to treat (NNT) 40; SMR of ROTEM^® group: 1:0.88; SMR of non-ROTEM^® group: 1:0.96; p = 0.081). Conclusions: Hemorrhage is still one of the leading causes of death of severely injured patients in the first hours after trauma. Early thromboelastometry can lead to a more targeted coagulation management, but is not yet widely available. This study demonstrated that ROTEM^® was used for the more severely injured patients and that its use was associated with a less than expected mortality as well as a higher utilization of hemostatic products.