Autologous Whole Blood Management for Transfusion Reduction in Adult Cardiac Surgery Patients

Autologous Whole Blood Management for Reduction of Blood Product Transfusion in Adult Cardiac Surgery Patients: a Local Feasibility/Pilot Study

The goal of this pilot trial is to test a protocol for a planned Canada-wide clinical trial looking at whether or not the use of a patients own blood works as good as the current standard of care using donated blood products to reduce blood loss in adult patients having heart surgery.

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

• Is the protocol practical, effective, and efficient.
• Does the use of a patients own blood lower the following: bleeding, the amount donated blood products given, and complications.

Participants will be separated into two groups by a process that is like flipping a coin. One group will donate blood to themselves in the operating room and get their own blood back after surgery. The other group will be given blood products donated by other humans to treat the bleeding after heart surgery.

Researchers will compare both groups to see if patients that get their own blood have fewer donated blood products given at time of heart surgery and have less complications after surgery.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Postoperative Hemorrhage; Postoperative Anemia; Postoperative Blood Loss
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Autologous Whole Blood Management; Other: Standard Care involving allogenic and/or derivative transfusion.

Detailed Description

Cardiac surgery patients are at risk for perioperative bleeding and transfusion due to the invasiveness of the surgery and an acquired coagulopathy that is unique to this sub-specialty. High transfusion rates in this population are related to surgical field blood loss and the development of a multi-factorial coagulopathy. Due to these circumstances, cardiac surgery patients account for up to 20% of total annual blood transfusion with a subset of high risk patients consuming 80% of all transfusion in this group. On this basis, employing blood conservation methods is extremely relevant as the use of donated blood products leads to greater rates of infectious complications, atrial fibrillation, prolonged postoperative ventilation, acute renal injury, and reduced short and long-term survival in cardiac surgery patients. Reducing the health and cost burden associated with transfusion is an important outcome to both the patient and health care system. Intraoperative autologous whole blood transfusion, a blood-conservation method similar to acute normovolemic hemodilution, may reduce transfusion and its associated complications but there is a paucity of large scale prospective randomized control trials investigating its efficacy in the era of modern surgical approaches, targeted transfusion using point-of-care viscoelastic testing, and advanced perfusion techniques. The intent of this study is to assess the feasibility of a trial protocol for a large-scale national study investigating high volume autologous whole blood transfusion for reduction in allogenic transfusion, derivative administration, and transfusion-associated morbidity and mortality.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 64
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Alberta
    • Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G2G3
      • University of Alberta

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult (≥18 yr)
• Surgical patients at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute
• High risk for acquired coagulopathy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Left ventricular ejection fraction <20%
• Impaired renal function
• Preoperative anemia (hematocrit < 30%)
• Abnormal coagulation studies or platelet function
• Presence of hemoglobinopathy
• Platelet count < 120 10*9/L
• Non-heparin based CPB anticoagulation
• Presence of carotid stenosis (≥70%)
• Presence of bacteremia/endocarditis
• Age > 85 yr
• Weight < 55 kg
• Hepatic failure/dysfunction
• Pregnancy
• Chronic lung disease on home O2
• Acute respiratory failure
• Acute coronary syndromes
• Emergency surgery

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Autologous Whole Blood Management; Intraoperative high volume autologous whole blood withdrawal prior to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with re-transfusion following weaning from CPB.	Other: Autologous Whole Blood Management; Intraoperative high volume autologous whole blood withdrawal with re-transfusion following weaning from CPB.; Other Names: Intraoperative autologous whole blood donation
Active Comparator: Allogenic and Derivative Transfusion; Control arm participants will receive standard care involving transfusion of plasma, platelets, cryoprecipitate, and/or lyophilized concentrates following weaning from CPB.	Other: Standard Care involving allogenic and/or derivative transfusion.; Therapeutic treatment of CPB-induced coagulopathy using donated allogenic blood products including plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitate and/or derivative administration using prothrombin complex and fibrinogen concentrates.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Adequacy of recruitment.	Proportion of screened eligible patients that are successfully recruited.	12 months.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of allogenic units transfused.	Number of units of red blood cell, plasma, platelets, cryoprecipitate administered intra-operatively and within the first 24hrs post-operatively.	24 hours
Dose of prothrombin complex concentrates.	Dose (in units per kilogram) of prothrombin complex concentrates given intraoperatively and within the first 24 hrs postoperatively.	24hrs
Dose of fibrinogen.	Dose (grams per kilogram) of fibrinogen given intraoperatively and within the first 24 hrs postoperatively.	24 hrs
24-Hour chest tube output.	Measured in millilitres during first 24 hours post-operatively.	24 hours
Time to extubation.	Measured in hours from time of arrival to ICU admission (index admission) until extubated.	30 days
ICU length of stay.	Measured as number of days in ICU.	30 days
Hospital length of stay.	Measured as number of days in hospital.	30 days
Incidence of postoperative myocardial infarction (MI).	As measured by laboratory serum troponin and one or more of: new left bundle branch block, new pathological Q waves on electrocardiogram, new regional wall motion abnormality on echocardiogram, identification of intracoronary thrombus on angiography or at the time of autopsy.	30 days
Incidence of infection.	Any new infection following cardiac surgery and within the first 30 days post-operatively.	30 days
Incidence of post-operative stroke.	Defined as any acute onset focal neurological deficit lasting more than 24 hours that corresponded to clinical assessment and brain imaging.	30 days
Incidence of acute lung injury.	Defined as any acute inflammation in the lung that causes disruption of the lung endothelial and epithelial barriers with partial pressure of oxygen tension in arterial blood (PaO2) to fraction inspired oxygen (FiO2) ratio of less than 300.	30 days
Incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI).	Defined per the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO ) criteria for Stage 2 and 3 AKI: 2.0-2.9 time postoperative increase in serum creatinine from preoperative value (stage 2); greater than 3.0 times increase in serum creatinine from preoperative value or increase in serum creatinine to greater than or equal to 353.6 micromole per litre or initiation of new renal replacement therapy postoperatively (stage 3) within 30 days.	30 days
Incidence of new requirement renal replacement therapy.	Defined as any new postoperative requirement of renal replacement therapy within the first 30 days of surgery.	30 days
Incidence of new onset atrial fibrillation.	Defined as new postoperative atrial fibrillation, persistent or paroxysmal, within the first 30 days postoperative.	30 days
Incidence of death within 30-days post-operatively.	Defined as death within the first 30 days postoperative.	30 days

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Research assistant cost per participant.	Assess time required of research assistant to enroll participant and extract data variables from electronic medical record.	12 months
Proportion of recruited participants successfully randomized.	Assess proportion of recruited participants that are successfully randomized with (target of >80%).	12 months
Number of participants with inadvertent unblinding of the intensive care clinicians.	Assess number of participants with inadvertent unblinding of the intensive care clinicians (target of <5%).	12 months
Number of major protocol deviations (adherence).	Assess number and define areas of protocol deviations.	12 months
Number of participants without complete follow-up.	Assess number of participants lost to follow-up (target <10%).	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Alberta
• Collaborators: Alberta Innovates Health Solutions; University Hospital Foundation; EPICORE Centre
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Angela R Neufeld, MD, University of Alberta

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 24, 2025
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 27, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): February 26, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 4, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 25, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): June 5, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 18, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 16, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Cardiac surgery; Acute normovolemic hemodilution; Postoperative coagulopathy; Autologous whole blood transfusion; Intraoperative autologous transfusion
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Postoperative Complications; Pathologic Processes; Hemorrhage; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Postoperative Hemorrhage
• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro00110883

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No