Investigation of TEG6 in Parturients Attending for Operative Delivery
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation of the Utility of Thromboelastography in Parturients Attending for Operative Delivery
IRAS ID
228427
Contact name
Louise Savic
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
There have been significant improvements in the treatment of bleeding around the time of delivery. Despite this, major haemorrhage remains one of the leading causes of death and serious illness in childbirth. One important aspect of care for these women is the measurement of how well their blood is able to form clots. Poor clotting can result in persistent and massive blood loss, and needs urgent treatment. Clotting tests provide a guide to which blood products a woman might need in order to maximise her ability to form clots and stop further bleeding.
The difficulty with standard laboratory tests for clotting is that they, can take up to 40 minutes to be performed; in a rapidly progressing clinical situation this is too long to be of any practical use. However, bedside tests are also available which can give an accurate assessment of clotting function within 5 minutes, using a technique called thromboelastography. These techniques are long established in obstetrics, and have been used for several years in the host site where we currently use the TEG 5000, a complex system requiring considerable skills, limiting its useability. The most recent model (TEG6) is a simplified point of care system which is much more user friendly. It is increasingly used in cardiac, liver and other fields of surgery, but is not widely used yet in obstetrics. There is an assumption that the TEG6 test values in the pregnant population are broadly similar to the non-pregnant population but this has not been formally assessed.
We aim to establish the normal reference ranges for TEG6 in parturients, and establish the impact of 'standard care' haemorrhage management with our unit on the TEG values, in women who bleed.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1111
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion