Person:

Henderson, Galen

Background: Recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) may be used for rapid hemostasis in life-threatening hemorrhage. In warfarin-associated intracerebral hemorrhage (wICH), FVIIa use is controversial and may carry significant thromboembolic risks. We compared incidence of baseline thromboembolic risk factors and thromboembolism rates in wICH patients treated with additional rFVIIa to those treated with standard therapy of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and vitamin K alone. Methods: We identified 45 consecutive wICH patients treated with additional rFVIIa over 5-year period, and 34 consecutive wICH patients treated with standard therapy alone as comparison group. We compared the incidence of post-hemorrhage cardiac and extra-cardiac thromboembolic complications between two treatment groups, and used logistic regression to adjust for significant confounders such as baseline thromboembolic risk factors. We performed secondary analysis comparing the quantity of FFP transfused between two treatment cohorts. Results: Both rFVIIa-treated and standard therapy-treated wICH patients had a high prevalence of pre-existing thromboembolic diseases including atrial fibrillation (73% vs 68%), deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) (22% vs 18%), coronary artery disease (CAD) (38% vs 32%), and abnormal electrocardiogram (EKG) (78% vs 85%). Troponin elevation following wICH was prevalent in both groups (47% vs 41%). Clinically significant myocardial infarction (MI), defined as troponin > 1.0 ng/dL, occurred in 13% of rFVIIa-treated and 6% of standard therapy-treated patients (p=0.52). Past history of CAD (p=0.0061) and baseline abnormal EKG (p=0.02) were independently associated with clinically significant MI following wICH while rFVIIa use was not. The incidences of DVT/PE (2% vs 9%; p=0.18) and ischemic stroke (2% vs 0%; p=0.38) were similar between two treatment groups. Recombinant FVIIa-treated patients had lower mean INR at 3 (p=0.0001) and 6 hours (p<0.0001) and received fewer units of FFP transfusion (3 vs 5; p=0.003). Conclusions: Pre-existing thromboembolic risk factors as well as post-hemorrhage troponin elevation are prevalent in wICH patients. Clinically significant MI occurs in up to 13% of wICH patients. rFVIIa use was not associated with increased incidence of clinically significant MI or other venous or arterial thromboembolic events in this wICH cohort.

Objective: To demonstrate that progress has been made in unifying brain death determination guidelines in the last decade by directly comparing the policies of the US News and World Report's top 50 ranked neurologic institutions from 2006 and 2015. Methods: We solicited official hospital guidelines in 2015 from these top 50 institutions, generated summary statistics of their criteria as benchmarked against the American Academy of Neurology Practice Parameters (AANPP) and the comparison 2006 cohort in 5 key categories, and statistically compared the 2 cohorts' compliance with the AANPP. Results: From 2008 to 2015, hospital policies exhibited significant improvement (p = 0.005) in compliance with official guidelines, particularly with respect to criteria related to apnea testing (p = 0.009) and appropriate ancillary testing (p = 0.0006). However, variability remains in other portions of the policies, both those with specific recommendation from the AANPP (e.g., specifics for ancillary tests) and those without firm guidance (e.g., the level of involvement of neurologists, neurosurgeons, or physicians with education/training specific to brain death in the determination process). Conclusions: While the 2010 AANPP update seems to be concordant with progress in achieving greater uniformity in guidelines at the top 50 neurologic institutions, more needs to be done. Whether further interventions come as grassroots initiatives that leverage technological advances in promoting adoption of new guidelines or as top-down regulatory rulings to mandate speedier approval processes, this study shows that solely relying on voluntary updates to professional society guidelines is not enough.