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* From the Departments of Anaesthesiology,
Surgery, and
Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong; and
the Department of Anaesthesia, United Christian Hospital, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, China.
Address correspondence to: Dr. A.Y.C. Wong, Honorary Assistant Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, F2, Queen Mary Hospital, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China. Fax: 852-28553384; E-mail: ayc_wong{at}hotmail.com
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Abstract |
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Methods: A randomized, controlled and double-blind study on 59 patients who received either 0.3 µg•kg-1 of desmopressin or an equal volume of normal saline (control) infused intravenously over 20 min after induction of general anesthesia.
Results: There was an increase in plasma levels of factors VIII and von Willebrand after the infusion of study drug in both groups (P < 0.001). The activated partial thromboplastin time was shortened in Group D whereas prothrombin time was prolonged in Group C; (P = 0.02). A large range of intraoperative blood loss (400–7128 mL) was observed, with no significant differences between groups. There were no changes in plasma electrolyte levels or osmolality. Transfusion requirements were similar in both groups.
Conclusion: Desmopressin did not reduce intraoperative blood loss or transfusion requirements during hepatectomy despite raising clotting factor levels and improving tests of hemostasis.
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Introduction |
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The clinical effect of desmopressin on patients undergoing hepatectomy remains unclear. Hepatectomy may result in significant blood loss and patients requiring hepatectomy may have chronic liver disease e.g., cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the commonest indication for hepatectomy in Hong Kong. Minimizing blood loss and, hence, transfusion requirements should decrease the associated risks as there is accumulating evidence that perioperative blood transfusion during resection of cancer may have a deleterious effect on prognosis.9
Desmopressin, which has been shown to improve the hemostatic system in patients with liver cirrhosis,10,11 may also have a beneficial effect on coagulation and, therefore, on blood losses in hepatectomy patients who may have pre- or intraoperative hepatic derangement. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of administration of desmopressin on coagulation and intraoperative blood loss in patients undergoing hepatectomy.
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Methods |
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Patient randomization was by drawing a sealed envelope specifying a prescription for either desmopressin or placebo, which was then prepared by an independent investigator and blinded to the patient, attending anesthesiologist and surgeon. The attending anesthesiologist recorded all the necessary data. General anesthesia was induced with fentanyl 2 µg•kg-1 and thiopentone 4 mg•kg-1, and was maintained with a mixture of nitrous oxide 65% and oxygen 35% with isoflurane titrated to clinical requirement. Atracurium 0.5 mg•kg-1 was given to facilitate endotracheal intubation which was followed by intermittent positive pressure ventilation to a normal end-tidal carbon dioxide partial pressure. Shortly after induction, patients in Group D received 0.3 µg•kg-1 of desmopressin in 50 mL of normal saline and those in Group C received 50 mL of normal saline given intravenously over 20 min. Intravenous morphine was administered for analgesia. Fluid management consisted of warmed crystalloids, colloids and blood to maintain a normal pulse and blood pressure, a hematocrit greater than 30%, and a urine output greater than 0.5 mL•kg-1•hr-1. When urine output was below 0.5 mL•kg-1•hr-1, furosemide in 5 mg increments every 15 min was administered until the urine output reached the target level of greater than 0.5 mL•kg-1•hr-1. Intraoperative monitoring included invasive arterial blood pressure, nasopharyngeal temperature, capnography, isoflurane concentrations, pulse oximetry, central venous pressure (CVP), urine output, and peripheral nerve stimulation. Forced air warming was used to maintain normothermia.
The following data were collected before desmopressin or placebo infusion and repeated one hour after infusion: baseline hemoglobin, platelet count, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), factor VIII, von Willebrand factor (vWF), plasma sodium and potassium levels and osmolality. Blood loss was calculated by weighing swabs and measuring losses in suction bottles, then subtracting irrigation fluid volumes. It was assessed in three phases: pre, during, and post-transection of the liver. Duration of surgery, the presence of liver cirrhosis and the application of a portal clamp (Pringle’s maneuver) during liver resection were also recorded.
We felt that a 20% reduction in blood loss would be clinically useful. In order to demonstrate this with a power of 80% at the 0.05 level of significance, we calculated that 30 patients would be required in each group. Results are expressed as mean, standard deviation, median and range. Parametric data were compared using Student’s t test while non-parametric data were analyzed with Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test. All statistical calculations were performed with the SAS System Release 8.00 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). P < 0.05 was considered significant.
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Results |
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. Forty-six patients (78%) were undergoing hepatectomy for HCC, seven (12%) for recurrent pyogenic cholangitis, four (6.8%) for secondary liver metastasis, one (1.7%) for Klaskin tumour and one for cystadenoma.
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. There was no difference in mean blood loss between the two groups at any stage of surgery. Desmopressin did not decrease blood losses in cirrhotic patients (Table III). Actual and weighted total blood losses were not different between those who received desmopressin or placebo.
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. Clotting factors, factor VIII and vWF, were significantly raised in both groups. After infusion of study drug, APTT was shortened in Group D, whereas PT was prolonged in Group C. The potassium level rose post-infusion in both groups (D group P = 0.053; C group P = 0.042). The other hematological and biochemical laboratory tests performed were not different between groups or following infusion of desmopressin (Table V).
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). Twenty-three patients were found to be mildly cirrhotic at operation. To investigate whether cirrhosis had any effect on bleeding, blood losses at different stages were compared in cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients and within the treatment groups. There were no differences in blood losses at any stage. |
Discussion |
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Desmopressin lacks vasoconstrictor activity and rapidly increases levels of factor VIII and vWF when administered intravenously. The proposed site of release of factor VIII is the sinusoid liver endothelial cells and vWF comes from vascular endothelial cells. Desmopressin also causes an increase in the platelet adhesiveness, the mechanism of which is not fully understood.1 In both groups, there was a significant increase in factor VIII and vWF levels. The increase in the levels was much more striking in the patients receiving desmopressin. As in previous studies, APTT was significantly shortened by desmopressin, and in the C group, without desmopressin, PT was found to be prolonged.10,11
The main concern with the use of desmopressin is its potential antidiuretic effects. However, we found no significant difference in plasma osmolality, sodium or potassium levels between the pre- and post-infusion samples in the D group. Thirty percent of patients in group D were administered furosemide because of lower urine output but the difference between groups was not statistically significant.
The major indication for hepatic resection in our population is HCC (78% of the recruited patients). This is often secondary to chronic hepatitis B and, therefore, cirrhosis is a common co-morbidity (39% of the patients). In this study, the cirrhosis was mild and there were no signs or symptoms of impaired hepatic function preoperatively. Desmopressin has been shown to improve in vitro tests of hemostatic function in patients with chronic moderate and severe liver cirrhosis10,11 but the clinical relevance of this finding remains unclear. We evaluated the clinical impact of coagulation changes induced by desmopressin by comparing intraoperative blood losses. Despite the improvement in laboratory hemostasis, there was no significant reduction in intraoperative blood loss in patients receiving desmopressin. Cirrhosis was not associated with a greater blood loss either between or within groups. This may be due to the mild grade of cirrhosis in our patients. We noted, however, a very wide range of total blood losses (400–7128 mL), occurring mostly during the transection phase of surgery. The large sample variance resulted in a low power of the test (27.4%) in our study. We calculated that a sample size of 251 patients in each group would be needed to increase the power to 80%. Narrower ranges of blood losses were noted in group D (Table II). This may reflect an ability of desmopressin to limit the extent of blood loss. A similar finding occurred in another study on desmopressin, from which the authors concluded that desmopressin was effective in reducing intraoperative blood loss when anticipated bleeding exceeded 1 L.7
In patients receiving a blood transfusion, the number of units of packed red cells administered ranged from 1–5. Blood transfusion was prescribed individually according to each patient’s clinical condition, considering hemoglobin value and cardiovascular function. Factors contributing to transfusion requirement were analyzed. These were: low preoperative hemoglobin concentration, high actual and wTBL and female sex. The increased transfusion requirement in the female patients, however, is probably due to lower initial hemoglobin concentrations compared to male patients. The patients who received desmopressin were slightly younger than those in the C group (Table I). However the average age difference is less than eight years and this is unlikely to be a confounding factor in relation to transfusion.
In a recent Cochrane review on desmopressin,8 the authors concluded there was insufficient evidence that desmopressin reduced perioperative allogeneic red cell transfusion in patients who did not have congenital bleeding disorders. Out of 17 studies in the meta-analysis, 14 were conducted on cardiac surgeries. The other surgeries were vascular (abdominal aortic aneurysm or aorto femoral bypass), bimaxillary osteotomy and total hip replacement. Hepatectomy was not studied. In a review on systemic hemostatic medications for reducing surgical blood loss by Erstad,12 randomized studies involving conjugated estrogens, epsilon-aminocaproic acid, tranexamic acid, desmopressin, and aprotinin for systemic hemostasis were analyzed. The author concluded that there was substantial evidence from a number of randomized trials documenting desmopressin’s lack of efficacy, and although certain subsets of patients (e.g., those with prolonged bleeding times preoperatively) warranted additional investigation, the routine use of desmopressin as a hemostatic agent should be discouraged.
Aprotinin works on the other arm of the coagulation system as an antifibrinolytic agent. Lentschener et al.13 investigated the effect of aprotinin on reducing blood loss during hepatectomy. They obtained a similar range of blood loss in their placebo group (215–6300). Yet, they were able to show a significant blood loss reduction in the aprotinin group (P = 0.048). Intraoperatively, there was a significantly lower increase in fibrinolysis in the aprotinin group. However, no definitive conclusion was drawn on the mechanism by which aprotinin inhibited intraoperative fibrinolysis.
Recent advances in liver surgery have allowed many patients to undergo liver resection without the need for blood transfusion. However, the risk of intraoperative bleeding remains high and is particularly likely in circumstances such as extended resection, co-existent liver cirrhosis, repeat surgery and when the portal vein is thrombosed. Although there is evidence that desmopressin may be useful in patients with a bleeding tendency,14 our study did not show any clinical benefit on blood loss reduction in hepatectomy surgery even in patients with liver cirrhosis.
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Footnotes |
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Revision received August 29, 2002. Accepted for publication April 15, 2002.
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References |
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2 Theroux MC, Corddry DH, Tietz AE, Miller F, Peoples JD, Kettrick RG. A study of desmopressin and blood loss during spinal fusion for neuromuscular scoliosis. A randomized, controlled, double-blinded study. Anesthesiology 1997; 87: 260–7.[Medline]
3 Alanay A, Acaroglu E, Ozdemir O, Ercelen O, Bulutcu E, Surat A. Effects of deamino-8-D-arginin vasopressin on blood loss and coagulation factors in scoliosis surgery: a double-blind randomized clinical trial. Spine 1999; 24: 877–82.[Medline]
4 Karnezis TA, Stulberg SD, Wixson RL, Reilly P. The hemostatic effects of desmopressin on patients who had total joint arthroplasty. A double-blind randomized trial. J Bone Joint Surg 1994; 76: 1545–50.
5 Clagett GP, Valentine RJ, Myers SI, Chervu A, Heller J. Does desmopressin improve hemostasis and reduce blood loss from aortic surgery? A randomized, double-blind study. J Vasc Surg 1995; 22: 223–9.[Medline]
6 Guyuron B, Vaughan C, Schlecter B. The role of DDAVP (desmopressin) in orthognathic surgery. Ann Plast Surg 1996; 37: 516–9.[Medline]
7 Johnson RG, Murphy JM. The role of desmopressin in reducing blood loss during lumbar fusions. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1990; 171: 223–6.[Medline]
8 Henry DA, Moxey AJ, Carless PA, et al. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. Desmopressin for minimising perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion. The Cochrane Library 2002; (Issue 1): 1–27.
9 Jamieson GG, Corbel L, Campion JP, Launois B. Major liver resection without a blood transfusion: is it a realistic objective? Surgery 1992; 112: 32–6.[Medline]
10 Burroughs AK, Matthews K, Qadiri M, et al. Desmopressin and bleeding time in patients with cirrhosis. Br Med J 1985; 291: 1377–81.
11 Agnelli G, Parise P, Levi M, Cosmi B, Nenci GG. Effects of desmopressin on hemostasis in patients with liver cirrhosis. Haemostasis 1995; 25: 241–7.[Medline]
12 Erstad BL. Systemic hemostatic medications for reducing surgical blood loss. Ann Pharmacother 2001; 35: 925–34.[Abstract]
13 Lentschener C, Benhamou D, Mercier FJ, et al. Aprotinin reduces blood loss in patients undergoing elective liver resection. Anesth Analg 1997; 84: 875–81.[Abstract]
14 Hunt BJ. Desmopressin and bleeding during invasive surgery. Eur J Anaesthesiol 1997; 14(Suppl 14): 42–9.
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