This week: Perioperative Aspirin and Blood Transfusions and Hospital-acquired Infections
Nathan and Amol want you to:
1. Understand that the use of perioperative ASA did not reduce the rate of postoperative MI or death, but was found to increase the rate of major bleeding.
2. Recognize that it may be difficult to generalize the findings of the POISE-2 trial to the bedside given the heterogeneity among the patients studied and operations performed.
3. Recognize that blood transfusion may be associated with an increased risk of all hospital-acquired infections (not just blood-borne infections) but the evidence is still preliminary.
Continuing Medical Education
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The papers
P. J. Devereaux et al. Aspirin in Patients Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery. N Engl J Med 2014; 370:1494-1503. (PubMed).
Jeffrey M. Rohde et al. Health Care–Associated Infection After Red Blood Cell Transfusion: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA 2014; 311(13):1317-1326. (PubMed).
Good stuff
Nathan – B.C. Health Authority Halts Fecal Transplants, Wendy Stueck, The Globe and Mail, April 28, 2014.
