Association between preoperative hemoglobin levels after iron supplementation and perioperative blood transfusion requirements in children undergoing scoliosis surgery

Impact of preoperative anemia on hospital costs in children and adolescents undergoing pediatric spinal deformity surgery

BACKGROUND CONTEXT

Preoperative anemia is associated with the need for red blood cell (RBC) transfusion and extended hospital stays in pediatric patients undergoing spinal deformity surgery.

PURPOSE

This study sought to identify excess hospital costs associated with preoperative anemia in this population.

DESIGN

Retrospective review of linked procedure records from prospectively maintained institutional databases.

PATIENT SAMPLE

Patients aged 2 to 18 years old who underwent posterior spinal fusion surgery at our institution from 2017 to 2023 were identified through procedure-related data collected as part of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and Pediatric Health Information Systems databases.

OUTCOME MEASURES

The primary outcome measure was total hospital costs, as derived from billed services and the hospital's department level costs-to-charge ratios, with RBC transfusion as a mediating outcome.

METHODS

Linear regression estimated the association between preoperative anemia and increased hospital costs, adjusting for age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification, number of spinal levels fused, and surgical duration. The unified framework for mediation and interaction identified whether RBC transfusion was a significant mediator of this association.

RESULTS

Of 672 patients, 10.6% (n=71) were anemic on preoperative testing. Higher median total hospital costs were seen for those with preoperative anemia than those without ($49,370 vs. $41,044; p<.001). Linear regression on log-transformed cost data indicated that those with anemia had 18.0% (95% CI: 4.5%-33.2%; p=.008) higher total hospital costs after adjustment for covariates, highlighting 95% confidence in a cost excess of at least $2,448 in anemic patients. RBC transfusion was more common in anemic patients (63.4% vs. 46.8%, p=.008) and significantly mediated the observed association with costs.

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative anemia is independently associated with increased healthcare costs during the surgical treatment of spinal deformity in children, with anemic patients incurring thousands of dollars of additional costs driven in part by those associated with RBC transfusion. Depending on the expense and efficacy of hemoglobin optimization strategies, these findings highlight the potential for a cost-effective intervention to treat preoperative anemia in vulnerable populations.

Perioperative paediatric patient blood management: a narrative review

Patient blood management (PBM) encompasses implementing multimodal evidence-based strategies to screen, diagnose, and properly treat anaemia and coagulopathies using goal-directed therapy while minimising bleeding. The aim of PBM is to improve clinical care and patient outcomes while managing patients with potential or ongoing critical anaemia, clinically significant bleeding, and coagulopathies. The focus of PBM is patient-centred rather than transfusion-centred. Multimodal PBM strategies are now recommended by international organisations, including the World Health Organization, as a new standard of care and a proven means to safely and effectively manage anaemia and blood loss while minimising unnecessary blood transfusion. Compared with adult PBM, paediatric PBM is currently not routinely accepted as a standard of care. This is partly because of the paucity of robust data on paediatric patient PBM. Managing paediatric bleeding and blood product transfusion presents unique challenges. Neonates, infants, children, and adolescents each have specific considerations based on age, weight, physiology, and pharmacology. This narrative review covers the latest updates for PBM in paediatric surgical populations including the benefits and principles of paediatric PBM, current expert consensus guidelines, and important universal multimodal therapeutic strategies emphasising clinical management of the anaemic, bleeding, or coagulopathic paediatric patient in the perioperative period. Practical paediatric rules for PBM in the perioperative period are highlighted, with review of specific PBM strategies including treatment of preoperative anaemia, restrictive transfusion thresholds, antifibrinolytic agents, cell salvage, standardised transfusion algorithms, and goal-directed therapy based on point-of-care and viscoelastic testing.

Transfusion targets and adverse events in pediatric perioperative acute Anemia

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between pretransfusion and posttransfusion hemoglobin concentrations and the outcomes of children undergoing noncardiac surgery.

DESIGN

Retrospective review of patient records. We focused on initial postoperative hemoglobin concentrations, which may provide a more useful representation of transfusion adequacy than pretransfusion hemoglobin triggers (the latter often cannot be obtained during acute surgical hemorrhage).

SETTING

Single-center, observational cohort study.

PATIENTS

We evaluated all pediatric patients undergoing noncardiac surgery who received intraoperative red blood cell transfusions from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2018.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS

Associations between pre- and posttransfusion hemoglobin concentrations (g/dL), hospital-free days, intensive care unit admission, postoperative mechanical ventilation, and infectious complications were evaluated with multivariable regression modeling.

MAIN RESULTS

In total, 113,713 unique noncardiac surgical procedures in pediatric patients were evaluated, and 741 procedures met inclusion criteria (median [range] age, 7 [1-14] years). Four hundred ninety-eight patients (68%) with a known preoperative hemoglobin level had anemia; of these, 14% had a preexisting diagnosis of anemia in their health record. Median (IQR) pretransfusion hemoglobin concentration was 8.1 (7.4-9.2) g/dL and median (IQR) initial postoperative hemoglobin concentration was 10.4 (9.3-11.6) g/dL. Each decrease of 1 g/dL in the initial postoperative hemoglobin concentration was associated with increased odds of transfusion within the first 24 postoperative hours (odds ratio [95% CI], 1.62 [1.37-1.93]; P < .001). No significant relationships were observed between postoperative hemoglobin concentrations and hospital-free days (P = .56), intensive care unit admission (P = .71), postoperative mechanical ventilation (P = .63), or infectious complications (P = .74).

CONCLUSIONS

In transfused patients, there was no association between postoperative hemoglobin values and clinical outcomes, except the need for subsequent transfusion. Most transfused patients presented to the operating room with anemia, which suggests a potential opportunity for perioperative optimization of health before surgery.

Effects of ferric derisomaltose on postoperative anaemia in adult spinal deformity surgery: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Postoperative anaemia is prevalent in adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery in association with unfavourable outcomes. Ferric derisomaltose, a novel iron supplement, offers a promising solution in rapidly treating postoperative anaemia. However, the clinical evidence of its effect on patients receiving spinal surgery remains inadequate. This randomised controlled trial aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ferric derisomaltose on postoperative anaemia in ASD patients.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This single-centre, phase 4, randomised controlled trial will be conducted at Department of Orthopaedics at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and aims to recruit adult patients who received ASD surgery with postoperative anaemia. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to receive ferric derisomaltose infusion or oral ferrous succinate. The primary outcome is the change in haemoglobin concentrations from postoperative days 1-14. Secondary outcomes include changes in iron parameters, reticulocyte parameters, postoperative complications, allogeneic red blood cell infusion rates, length of hospital stay, functional assessment and quality-of-life evaluation.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

This study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. Informed consent will be obtained from all participants prior to enrolment and the study will be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The results of this study are expected to be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and academic conferences.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT05714007.

Error traps and preventative strategies for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis spinal surgery

Anesthesia for posterior spinal fusion for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis remains one of the most common surgeries performed in adolescents. These procedures have the potential for significant intraprocedural and postoperative complications. The potential for pressure injuries related to prone positioning must be understood and addressed. Additionally, neuromonitoring remains a mainstay for patient care in order to adequately assess patient neurologic integrity and alert the providers to a reversible action. As such, causes of neuromonitoring signal loss must be well understood, and the provider should have a systematic approach to signal loss. Further, anesthetic design must facilitate intraoperative wake-up to allow for a definitive assessment of neurologic function. Perioperative bleeding risk is high in posterior spinal fusion due to the extensive surgical exposure and potentially lengthy operative time, so the provider should undertake strategies to reduce blood loss and avoid coagulopathy. Pain management for adolescents undergoing spinal fusion is also challenging, and inadequate analgesia can delay recovery, impede patient/family satisfaction, increase the risk of chronic postsurgical pain/disability, and lead to prolonged opioid use. Many of the significant complications associated with this procedure, however, can be avoided with intentional and evidence-based approaches covered in this review.

The Incidence and Risk Factors for Allogeneic Blood Transfusions in Pediatric Spine Surgery: National Data

(1) Background: Pediatric spinal surgery is a blood-intensive procedure. In order to introduce a rational blood management program, identifying the risk factors for transfusions is mandatory. (2) Methods: Data from the national database covering the period from January 2015 to July 2017 were analyzed. The available data included the demographics, characteristics of the surgeries performed, length of stay, and in-house mortality. (3) Results: The total number of patients used for the analysis was 2302. The primary diagnosis was a spinal deformity (88.75%). Most fusions were long, with four levels or more (89.57%). A total of 938 patients received a transfusion; thus, the transfusion rate was 40.75%. The present study identified several risk factors; the most significant was a number of levels fused greater than 4 (RR 5.51; CI95% 3.72-8.15; p < 0.0001), followed by the deformity as the main diagnosis (RR 2.69; CI95% 1.98-3.65; p < 0.0001). These were the two most significant factors increasing the odds of a transfusion. Other factors associated with an increased risk of transfusion were elective surgery, the female sex, and an anterior approach. The mean length of stay in days was 11.42 (SD 9.93); this was greater in the transfused group (14.20 vs. 9.50; p < 0.0001). (4) Conclusions: The rate of transfusions in pediatric spinal surgery remains high. A new patient blood management program is necessary to improve this situation.

Paediatric Spinal Deformity Surgery: Complications and Their Management

Surgical correction of paediatric spinal deformity is associated with risks, adverse events, and complications that must be preoperatively discussed with patients and their families to inform treatment decisions, expectations, and long-term outcomes. The incidence of complications varies in relation to the underlying aetiology of spinal deformity and surgical procedure. Intraoperative complications include bleeding, neurological injury, and those related to positioning. Postoperative complications include persistent pain, surgical site infection, venous thromboembolism, pulmonary complications, superior mesenteric artery syndrome, and also pseudarthrosis and implant failure, proximal junctional kyphosis, crankshaft phenomenon, and adding-on deformity, which may necessitate revision surgery. Interventions included in enhanced recovery after surgery protocols may reduce the incidence of complications. Complications must be diagnosed, investigated and managed expeditiously to prevent further deterioration and to ensure optimal outcomes. This review summarises the complications associated with paediatric spinal deformity surgery and their management.

Preoperative Iron Supplementation in Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Patients: A Preliminary Single-Center Experience

OBJECTIVE

To assess preoperative hemoglobin and perioperative red blood cell transfusion in children undergoing cardiac surgery after the implementation of a preoperative patient blood management (PBM) clinic with oral iron supplementation.

DESIGN

A retrospective analysis.

SETTING

A single tertiary hospital.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients who underwent cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada) during a 12-month period before and following the implementation of a preoperative PBM clinic. Patients younger than 3 months of age, or who were admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit preoperatively, were excluded because they were not systematically assessed by the PBM clinic.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

A total of 296 patients were included in the authors' analysis. After adjustment for confounding factors (age at surgery, preoperative oxygen saturation, type of congenital heart disease, surgery type), they found that preoperative hemoglobin levels were significantly higher in children treated with iron supplementation (n = 201) compared to historic controls (n = 95) (13.9 [12.8-15.1] g/dL v 12.9 [11.7-15.0] g/dL, adjusted p = 0.001). The exposure rate to red blood cell transfusion (50% v 61%, adjusted p = 0.930) was not significantly different between groups. However, the volumes of allogeneic red blood cells (1.4 (0.0-14.0) mL/kg v 12.5 (0.0-23.0) mL/kg, adjusted p = 0.004) and autologous blood (11.0 (6.8-17.0) v 17.0 (11.0-31.0), adjusted p < 0.001) transfused were significantly reduced in children treated with iron supplementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative iron supplementation led to an increase in preoperative hemoglobin levels. The exact prevalence of iron deficiency and the effect of iron supplementation on perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion and long-term outcomes should be studied in a prospective randomized study.

Development of a preoperative risk score predicting allogeneic red blood cell transfusion in children undergoing spinal fusion

BACKGROUND

Children undergoing spinal fusion often receive blood products. The goal of this study was to develop a preoperative score to help physicians identify those who are at risk of allogeneic red blood cell (RBC) transfusion.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

This retrospective study of children undergoing spinal fusion in the ACS-NSQIP Pediatric database (2016-2019) aimed at identifying risk factors associated with allogeneic RBC transfusion. Univariable logistic regression and multivariable logistic regression were performed using preoperative patient characteristics and aided in the creation of a simplified scoring system.

RESULTS

Out of 13,929 total patients, 2990 (21.5%) were transfused. We created a risk score based on 10 independent predictors of transfusion: age, sex, race, weight < 3rd percentile, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification, cardiac risk factors, hematologic disease, preoperative anemia, deformity type, and number of spinal levels to be fused. Patients in both the training and testing cohorts were assigned a score ranging from 0 (lowest risk) to 21 (highest risk). The developed transfusion risk score showed 77% accuracy in distinguishing patients who did not receive a transfusion during or soon after surgery (AUROC 0.7736 [95% CI, 0.7619-0.7852]) in the training cohort and 77% accuracy (AUROC 0.7732 [95% CI, 0.7554-0.7910]) in the testing cohort.

DISCUSSION

Our score, based on routinely available preoperative data, accurately estimates the risk of allogeneic RBC transfusion in pediatric patients undergoing spinal fusion. Future studies will inform whether patient blood management interventions targeted to high-risk patients can help reduce the need for transfusion and improve outcomes.

Perioperative blood conservation strategies for pediatric scoliosis surgery

PURPOSE

Many pediatric patients with severe scoliosis requiring surgery have baseline anemia. Pediatric scoliosis fusion surgery is associated with perioperative blood loss requiring transfusion. As such, many patients in this surgical population could benefit from a perioperative blood conservation program.

METHODS

Here we present a narrative review of perioperative blood conservation strategies for pediatric scoliosis surgery involving nurses, transfusion medicine physicians, anesthesiologists, surgeons, dieticians, perfusionists and neurophysiologists spanning the pre-, intra- and postoperative phases of care.

RESULTS

The review highlights how perioperative blood conservation strategies, have the potential to minimize exposures to exogenous blood products. Further, we describe a relevant example of blood conservation related to the care of a Jehovah's Witness patient undergoing staged scoliosis repair. Lastly, we outline areas which would benefit from clinical studies to further elucidate perioperative blood conservation interventions and their outcomes relevant to pediatric scoliosis surgery patients.

CONCLUSION

Interdisciplinary communication and meticulous blood conservation strategies are proving to be a means of reducing if not eliminating the need for allogeneic blood products for surgical correction of pediatric scoliosis.