Objective Antiplatelet use for treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) is common amongst thoracic surgery patients. Perioperative management of antiplatelet agents requires balancing the opposing risks of myocardial ischemia and excessive bleeding. Perioperative bridging with short-acting intravenous antiplatelet agents has shown promise in preventing myocardial ischemia, but may increase bleeding. We sought to determine whether perioperative bridging with eptifibatide increased bleeding associated with thoracic surgery. Methods After Institutional Review Board approval, we identified thoracic surgery patients receiving eptifibatide at our institution (n=30). These patients were matched 1:2 with control patients with CAD who did not receive eptifibatide from an institutional database of general thoracic surgery patients. The primary endpoint for our study was the number of units of blood transfused perioperatively. Results There were no differences in our primary endpoint, number of units of blood products transfused. There were also no differences noted between groups in intraoperative blood loss, chest tube duration, or postoperative length of stay (LOS). While there were no difference noted in overall complications, including our outcome of perioperative MI or death, composite cardiovascular events were more common in the eptifibatide group. Conclusions In our retrospective exploratory analysis, eptifibatide bridging in patients with high-risk or recent PCI was not associated with an increased need for perioperative transfusion, bleeding, or increased LOS. In addition, we found a similar rate of perioperative mortality or myocardial infarction in both groups, though the ability of eptifibatide to protect against perioperative myocardial ischemia is unclear given different baseline CAD characteristics.

We present the case of a 53-year-old female Jehovah's Witness with nonischemic cardiomyopathy who successfully underwent a bloodless heart transplantation using fibrinogen concentrate (RiaSTAP; CSL Behring, King of Prussia, PA) and other blood-conservation methods. With a multidisciplinary team and the use of preoperative erythropoietin-stimulating drugs, normovolemic hemodilution, cell salvage, and pharmacotherapy to prevent and treat coagulopathy, we were able to maintain hemoglobin levels greater than 11 g/dL without the need for blood transfusion. We conclude that orthotopic heart transplants may be performed successfully in select Jehovah's Witness patients using standard and novel blood conservation methods.