Use of point-of-care test in identification of patients who can benefit from desmopressin during cardiac surgery: a randomised controlled trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vasopressin and Desmopressin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Platelet dysfunction is a major cause of excessive microvascular bleeding after cardiac surgery.

A new point-of-care test (hemoSTATUS) can identify patients at risk of excessive bleeding.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 203 patients were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

The researchers enrolled 203 patients scheduled for elective cardiac surgery in a prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Patients with normal clot ratios were included in an untreated control group (n=72).

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vasopressin and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Vasopressin, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Vasopressin could be set against what happens without it.

What Was Measured

A new point-of-care test (hemoSTATUS) can identify patients at risk of excessive bleeding.

The subject headings attached to it are Blood Coagulation Disorders, Blood Component Transfusion, Coronary Artery Bypass, Deamino Arginine Vasopressin, Hemostatics, Platelet Count and Point-of-Care Systems.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vasopressin and Desmopressin in 203 patients.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 1999 (Lancet (London, England)), a journal based in England.

More context: the Vasopressin compound page and the Desmopressin compound page, all human trials.