title: Prevention of bleeding tendency after open-heart surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot.
abstract: Postoperative blood losses after open-heart surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot made re-operation imperative in 15 out of 44 patients (34%, Series A). A surgical bleeding point proved to be the causative factor in only 2 cases; the others were believed to be caused by disturbances of the haemostatic mechanism, particularly by low platelet counts, apparently due to extracorporeal circulation. Administration of a platelet suspension after disconnection of the extracorporeal circuit diminished the number of bleeding complications significantly: in a series of 58 patients (Series B), 8 re-operations (14%) were necessary. In 3 of these cases, technical reasons could be found for the blood losses. Haemodilution was carried out routinely in both series. However, the diluent contained a pasteurised protein solution in Series A and fresh frozen plasma in Series B in order to minimize the deficit of coagulation factors as much as possible.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001792:Blood Platelets; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D001810:Blood Volume; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005112:Extracorporeal Circulation; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010952:Plasma Substitutes; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D013696:Temperature; D013771:Tetralogy of Fallot / Q000601:surgery*
chemical_list: D010952:Plasma Substitutes