THROMBELASTOGRAPHIC PATTERNS FOLLOWING ABDOMINAL AORTIC-SURGERY

Postoperative changes in thrombelastographic patterns were studied in thirty patients undergoing elective abdominal aortic bypass surgery. N ative whole blood thrombelastography was performed preoperatively and on days 1, 2, and 3 postoperatively. The thrombelastographic changes i ncluded a decrease in r on day one (P < 0.0001), with concurrent incre ases in alpha (P < 0.0001) and MA (P < 0.001). On days 2 and 3 there w ere further increases in MA (P < 0.0001). These changes indicate enhan ced procoagulant activity and progressive increases in maximum clot st rength. The results confirm that hypercoagulability occurs in whole bl ood following abdominal aortic bypass surgery. Further studies are war ranted to determine whether modification of postoperative hypercoagula bility reduces the incidence of thrombotic complications in this group of patients.