Incidence and pattern of thrombocytopenia in cardiac surgery patients

Objective: to observe the incidence and pattern of thrombocytopenia in cardiac surgery patients. methods: this prospective,cohort study was conducted at the aga khan university hospital,karachi,from november 2014 to april 2015,and comprised adult cardiac patients. patients with platelet count less than 150,000 x 109/l,history of malignancy,immune thrombocytopenic purpura and on chemo or radiotherapy were excluded. all information including demographics,platelet count,heparin doses,total cardiopulmonary bypass time,cross-clamp time,blood products transfused,any thromboembolic complication and the presence of infection were recorded on a pre-designed proforma. spss 19 was used for data analysis. results: of the 177 patients,130(73.4%) were males and 47(26.6%) were females. the overall mean age was 59.21±10.99 years. thrombocytopenia was observed in 167(94.4%) patients. of them,platelet count dropped below 50% in 71(42.5%) patients,30-50% in 68(40.7%) patients and 20-30% in 28(16.8%) from the baseline value. regarding pattern of thrombocytopenia,maximum drop in platelet count was noticed on 2nd and 3rd day of surgery. furthermore,9(5.3%) patients developed severe thrombocytopenia (<50,000 x 109/l). conclusion: the incidence of thrombocytopenia and its severity after cardiac surgery was very high in our study population when compared with western population. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.