International journal of laboratory hematology
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Comparative Study
Comparison between thromboelastography and conventional coagulation tests after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in the paediatric intensive care unit.
Following paediatric cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), there is a risk of significant postoperative bleeding. A number of risk factors are associated with postoperative bleeding including; age, complexity of the surgery, dilution and consumption of clotting factors. We conducted a prospective audit comparing different coagulation tests used following paediatric CPB to determine whether thromboelastography (TEG) on the intensive care unit or routine laboratory coagulation assays including fibrinogen are better at assessing bleeding and bleeding risk. ⋯ Thromboelastography did not show better correlation with postoperative bleeding than conventional clotting tests. TEG parameter maximum amplitude correlates with platelet count and fibrinogen.