• Mark J Lennon, Neville M Gibbs, William M Weightman, David McGuire, and Nick Michalopoulos.
• Department of Anaesthesis, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Australia.
• J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. 2004 Apr 1; 18 (2): 136-40.

ObjectiveTo compare the assessment of aspirin-related platelet dysfunction using Plateletworks (Helena Laboratories, Beaumont, TX), a new point-of-care platelet function analyzer, with turbidometric platelet aggregometry, in cardiac surgical patients.DesignProspective observational study.SettingUniversity-affiliated teaching hospital.ParticipantsFifty consecutive adult patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery for coronary artery bypass grafting or cardiac valve replacement.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsPlatelet function was assessed by Plateletworks and turbidometric platelet aggregometry before the commencement of anesthesia. Collagen, 10 microg/mL, was used as the agonist for both techniques. The area under the receiver-operator curve for the identification of recent aspirin ingestion (or=72 hours) using Plateletworks was 0.58 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.42-0.75) versus 0.77 (95% CI 0.61-0.95) for turbidometric platelet aggregometry. The Spearman correlation coefficient (rho) between preoperative Plateletworks trade mark and postoperative mediastinal blood loss was 0.07 (p = 0.58), and between preoperative turbidometric platelet aggregometry and postoperative mediastinal blood loss was -0.31 (p = 0.03). On completion of surgery, the correlation coefficients were 0.14 (p = 0.34) and -0.29 (p = 0.08), respectively.ConclusionThese findings suggest that Plateletworks is of limited use for the detection of aspirin-related platelet defects in cardiac surgical patients.

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