Table 3 Blood loss, length of hospital stay and complications after total knee arthroplasty
UFH bridging | LMWH bridging | LMWH prophylaxis | p value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(n = 4) | (n = 8) | (n = 1000) | |||
Blood loss | |||||
Preop. haemoglobin level, mmol/L (range) | 8.5 (8.0–9.2) | 8.6 (7.6–10.3) | 8.5 (6.2–10.9)a | 0.902 | |
Postop. haemoglobin level, mmol/L (range) | 5.6 (4.9–6.0) | 6.4 (5.0–9.0) | 6.5 (4.0–9.9)b | 0.104 | |
Haemoglobin decrease, mmol/L (range) | 3.0 (2.1–3.9) | 2.2 (1.3–4.2) | 2.0 (0.2–4.8)c | 0.012 | |
Transfusion units | n (range) | 0.5 (0–2) | 0 (0) | 0.15 (0–9) | 0.449 |
Median | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
Bleeding index | Mean (range) | 3.5 (2.1–5.9) | 2.2 (1.3–4.2) | 2.1 (0.2–12.4)c | 0.045 |
Median | 2.9 | 1.9 | 2.0 | ||
Hospital stay | |||||
Mean days (range) | 32.5 (12–83) | 9.6 (5–20) | 7.4 (4–112) | 0.552 | |
Median | 17.5 | 8.5 | 7 | ||
Complications | |||||
Any complication | 3 (75 %) | 5 (63 %) | 156 (15.6 %) | <0.001 | |
Bleeding-related complication | |||||
Major bleeding | 1 (25 %) | 1 (13 %) | 26 (2.6 %) | 0.041 | |
Minor bleeding | 2 (50 %) | 1 (13 %) | 5 (0.5 %) | <0.001 | |
Neuropraxia due to hematoma | 0 | 0 | 0 | NAd | |
Evacuation of hematoma | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.1 %) | NAd | |
Thromboembolic complication | |||||
Arterial thromboembolism | 0 | 0 | 9 (0.9 %) | 1.000 | |
Deep venous thrombosis | 0 | 0 | 13 (1.3 %) | 1.000 | |
Pulmonary embolism | 0 | 0 | 5 (0.5 %) | 1.000 | |
Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia | 0 | 0 | 0 | NAd | |
Infected TKA | 1 (25 %) | 1 (13 %) | 8 (0.8 %) | 0.006 | |
Death | 0 | 0 | 4 (0.4 %) | 1.000 | |