Background: Uncontrolled hemorrhage is a leading cause of mortality after trauma accounting for up to 40% of deaths. Massive transfusion protocols offer a proven benefit in resuscitation of these patients. Recently, the superiority of thrombelastography (TEG)-guided resuscitation over strategies guided by conventional clotting assays has been established. We seek to determine optimal thresholds for rapid (r)-TEG driven resuscitation.
Methods: The r-TEG data were reviewed for 190 patients presenting to our level 1 trauma center from 2010 to 2015. Criteria for inclusion were highest level trauma activation in patients 18 years or older with hypotension presumed due to acute blood loss. Exclusion criteria included isolated gunshot wound to the head, pregnancy, and chronic liver disease. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to test the predictive performance of r-TEG for massive transfusion requirement defined by need for (1) >10 units of RBCs total or death in the first 6 hours or (2) >4 units of RBCs in any hour within the first 6 hours. Cutpoint analysis was then performed to determine optimal thresholds for TEG-based resuscitation.
Results: The ROC analysis of r-TEG yielded areas under the curve (AUC) greater than 70% for all outputs with respect to both transfusion thresholds considered, with exception of activated clotting time and lysis at 30 minutes for greater than 4 U RBC in any hour in the first 6 hours. Optimal cutpoint analysis of the resultant ROC curves was performed and for each value, the most sensitive cutpoint was identified, respectively activated clotting time of 128 seconds or longer, angle (α) of 65 degrees or less, maximum amplitude of 55 mm or less, and lysis at 30 minutes of 5% or greater.
Conclusions: Through ROC analysis of prospective TEG data, we have identified optimal thresholds to guide hemostatic resuscitation. These thresholds should be validated in a prospective multicenter trial.
Level of evidence: Therapeutic study, level V.