title: Patient eligibility criteria for a surgical treatment that enhances tissue sealing by use of a medicated sponge: observational study ELITE.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The application of a haemostatic agent in general surgery, in addition to its effect on bleeding, also provides tissue sealing and adhesion. A sponge drug is used with some actions of resection and wide dissection, without knowledge of the eligibility of patients. In this study, we sought to identify clusters of patients for which the medicated sponge enhances tissue sealing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational study (ELITE), from a panel of selected surgeons from hospitals in France in several surgical areas: abdominal, gynaecology, urology and thoracic. The survey identified the criteria for using the sponge TachoSil® in their surgical practices involving n = 683 patients. A multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) followed by an ascending hierarchical classification (AHC) was used in order to identify the eligibility criteria for the application of the sponge for tissue sealing in addition to hemostasis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most relevant classification was based on 9 groups of patients for which the sponge was used. 6 of them are mainly linked with the kind of lesion, 2 with the site of application and the latest one with the type of operation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ELITE study revealed that the TachoSil® sponge was used mainly during surgery, requiring a reinforcement of the resection tissue sealing. The expected objective was successfully reached in 97% of the cases.
authors.affiliation: General and Gynaecologic Surgery, University Hospital of Lariboisière, 2 rue Amboise Paré, 75475 Paris, Cedex 10, France.
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Raiffort
authors.forename: Farid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Benabdallah
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Paillasseur
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gangner
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leutenegger
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sockeel