Association between tourniquet use and intraoperative blood loss during below-knee amputation

Alden E Wyland; Erik Woelber; Liam H Wong; Jordan Arakawa; Zachary M Working; James Meeker

doi:10.5312/wjo.v13.i7.644

Association between tourniquet use and intraoperative blood loss during below-knee amputation

World J Orthop. 2022 Jul 18;13(7):644-651. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v13.i7.644.

Authors

Alden E Wyland¹, Erik Woelber², Liam H Wong¹, Jordan Arakawa², Zachary M Working², James Meeker³

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR 97239, United States.
² Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR 97239, United States.
³ Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR 97239, United States. meekerj@ohsu.edu.

Abstract

Background: Despite over 150000 amputations of lower limbs annually, there remains a wide variation in tourniquet practice patterns and no consensus on their necessity, especially among orthopedic patient populations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether tourniquet use in orthopedic patients undergoing below knee amputation (BKA) was associated with a difference in calculated blood loss relative to no tourniquet use.

Aim: To determine if tourniquet use in orthopedic patients undergoing BKA was associated with a difference in calculated blood loss relative to no tourniquet use.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of consecutive patients undergoing BKA by orthopedic surgeons at a tertiary care hospital from 2008 through 2018. Blood loss was calculated using a combination of the Nadler equation for preoperative blood volume and a novel formula utilizing preoperative and postoperative hemoglobin levels and transfusions. Univariate and forwards step-wise multivariate linear regressions were performed to determine the association between tourniquet use and blood loss. A Wilcoxon was used to determine the univariate relationship between tourniquet use and blood loss for in the restricted subgroups of patients who underwent BKA for trauma, tumor, and infection.

Results: Of 97 eligible patients identified, 67 underwent surgery with a tourniquet and 30 did not. In multivariate regression, tourniquet use was associated with a 488 mL decrease in calculated blood loss (CI 119-857, P = 0.01). In subgroup analysis, no individual group showed a statistically significant decrease in blood loss with tourniquet use. There was no significant association between tourniquet use and either postoperative transfusions or reoperation at one year.

Conclusion: We found that tourniquet use during BKA is associated with decreased calculated intraoperative blood loss. We recommend that surgeons performing this procedure use a tourniquet to minimize blood loss.

Keywords: Amputation; Blood loss; Hemostasis; Tourniquet.