Reversal of antiplatelet therapy in traumatic intracranial hemorrhage: Does timing matter?

Publication date: Available online 13 February 2018 Source:Journal of Clinical Neuroscience Author(s): Urmil Pandya, Alexander Malik, Michael Messina, Abdul-Rahman Albeiruti, Chance Spalding Reversal of antiplatelet therapy with platelet transfusion in traumatic intracranial hemorrhage remains controversial. Several studies have examined this topic but few have investigated whether the timing of transfusion affects outcomes. Patients admitted to a level 1 trauma center from 1/1/14 to 3/31/16 with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage taking pre-injury antiplatelet therapy were retrospectively analyzed. Patients on concurrent pre-injury anticoagulant therapy were excluded. Per institutional guideline, patients on pre-injury clopidogrel received 2 doses of platelets while patients on pre-injury aspirin received 1 dose of platelets. Patients with worsening hemorrhage defined by an increase in the Rotterdam score on follow up CT were compared to those without worsening. Mortality, need for neurosurgical intervention, and timing of platelet transfusion were analyzed. A total of 243 patients were included with 23 (9.5%) having worsening hemorrhage. Patients with worsening hematoma had higher injury severity score, head abbreviated injury scale, incidence of subdural hematoma, mortality, and lower Glasgow coma scale. There was no significant difference in the number of minutes to platelet transfusion between groups. After logistic regression analysis the presence of subdural hema...
Source: Journal of Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research