Is Blood Loss Greater in Elderly Patients under Antiplatelet or Anticoagulant Medication for Cervical Spine Injury Surgery? A Japanese Multicenter Survey

Elderly patients with cervical spinal cord injury often have other health issues, such as heart and brain blood vessel problems. They frequently take antiplatelet or anticoagulant medications. This study investigates whether these medications increase bleeding during surgery for cervical spine injuries in the elderly. This study reviewed the records of 1512 patients with cervical spine injuries at 33 hospitals. After excluding some cases, 797 patients were included. The study looked at how much blood was lost during surgery and whether patients were taking antiplatelet or anticoagulant medications. The study found that using antiplatelet or anticoagulant medications did not significantly increase blood loss during surgery in elderly patients with cervical spine injuries. Surgeons can focus on the patient's overall health and other medical conditions when deciding if surgery is right for them.

• 1
  APAC use in elderly patients was not significantly associated with surgical blood loss according to the IPTW method with propensity scoring or linear mixed model analyses.
• 2
  There was no significant difference in the incidence of intraoperative complications between the groups (p =0.46).
• 3
  Massive bleeding of more than 1000 mL was noted in 14 cases (2.3%) in the APAC−group and 5 cases (3.2%) in the APAC+ group, the incidence of which was comparable (p=0.56).