Is pharmacological anticoagulant prophylaxis necessary for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis surgery?

We report the outcomes of mechanical prophylaxis and chemoprophylaxis in patients who underwent elective surgery for idiopathic adolescent scoliosis (AIS). We retrospectively studied the patients who underwent posterior spinal instrumentation for AIS. The patients were divided into three groups: Group A low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) started at 8 hours after surgery; Group B LMWH started at 24 hr after surgery; Group C did not receive chemoprophylaxis. The data about wound oozing, need for transfusion, preoperative and postoperative hemoglobin level, length of stay in hospital, interval from the surgery to removal of closed suction drainage tube, postoperative blood loss from closed suction drain, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolism (PE) were investigated. The mean age and Lenke classification for all the groups were similar. No DVT or PE was detected in any group. The mean blood loss from the drain was higher in Group A (400 mL) and Group B (450 mL) when compared to Group C (150 mL) (P  = .001). There were more wound oozing in Groups A (5) and B (6) than in Group C (3) (P  = .585). Three patients in Group B, 3 patients in Group A, and no patient in Group C had superficial infections. However, there was no statistical difference between the groups (P  = .182). Postoperative hospital stay was significantly longer in Groups A (6 days) and B (6 days) then in Group C (5 days) (P  ...
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Research Article: Observational Study Source Type: research