Bleeding remains a significant problem for many thrombocytopenic hematology/oncology patients in spite of platelet transfusions. Factors that might contribute to bleeding were analyzed for 16 320 ...patient-days on or after their first platelet transfusion in 1077 adult patients enrolled in the Platelet Dose (PLADO) trial. All patients had a greatly increased risk of bleeding at platelet counts of ≤5 × 109/L (odds ratio OR, 3.1; 95% confidence interval CI, 2.0-4.8) compared with platelet counts ≥81 × 109/L. Platelet counts between 6 × 109/L and 80 × 109/L were also associated with a somewhat elevated bleeding risk in patients receiving allogeneic stem cell transplants (SCTs) or chemotherapy but not in those undergoing autologous SCTs. Other significant laboratory predictors of bleeding were hematocrit ≤25% (OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.11-1.49), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) 30 to ≤50 seconds (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.08-1.81; P = .01), aPTT >50 seconds (OR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.54-3.56), international normalized ratio (INR) 1.2 to 1.5 (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.17-1.83), and INR >1.5 (OR, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.43-2.95). Transfusion of either platelets or red blood cells (RBCs) on days with bleeding was often not sufficient to change bleeding outcomes on the following day. Because bleeding occurred over a wide range of platelet counts among patients undergoing allogeneic SCT or chemotherapy and because platelet transfusions may not prevent bleeding, other risk factors may be involved. These may include low hematocrit and coagulation abnormalities. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00128713.
•Laboratory parameters associated with increased bleeding were platelet counts ≤5 × 109/L, hematocrits ≤25%, INR >1.2, and aPTT >30 seconds.•Platelet and RBC transfusions on days with bleeding are often not sufficient to change bleeding outcomes on the following day.
Mineralocorticoid-receptor antagonists improve the prognosis for patients with heart failure and a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. We evaluated the effects of spironolactone in patients ...with heart failure and a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.
In this randomized, double-blind trial, we assigned 3445 patients with symptomatic heart failure and a left ventricular ejection fraction of 45% or more to receive either spironolactone (15 to 45 mg daily) or placebo. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, aborted cardiac arrest, or hospitalization for the management of heart failure.
With a mean follow-up of 3.3 years, the primary outcome occurred in 320 of 1722 patients in the spironolactone group (18.6%) and 351 of 1723 patients in the placebo group (20.4%) (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.77 to 1.04; P=0.14). Of the components of the primary outcome, only hospitalization for heart failure had a significantly lower incidence in the spironolactone group than in the placebo group (206 patients 12.0% vs. 245 patients 14.2%; hazard ratio, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.99, P=0.04). Neither total deaths nor hospitalizations for any reason were significantly reduced by spironolactone. Treatment with spironolactone was associated with increased serum creatinine levels and a doubling of the rate of hyperkalemia (18.7%, vs. 9.1% in the placebo group) but reduced hypokalemia. With frequent monitoring, there were no significant differences in the incidence of serious adverse events, a serum creatinine level of 3.0 mg per deciliter (265 μmol per liter) or higher, or dialysis.
In patients with heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction, treatment with spironolactone did not significantly reduce the incidence of the primary composite outcome of death from cardiovascular causes, aborted cardiac arrest, or hospitalization for the management of heart failure. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; TOPCAT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00094302.).
Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure With an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) patients with heart failure and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction assigned to spironolactone ...did not achieve a significant reduction in the primary composite outcome (time to cardiovascular death, aborted cardiac arrest, or hospitalization for management of heart failure) compared with patients receiving placebo. In a post hoc analysis, an ≈4-fold difference was identified in this composite event rate between the 1678 patients randomized from Russia and Georgia compared with the 1767 enrolled from the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina (the Americas).
To better understand this regional difference in clinical outcomes, demographic characteristics of these populations and their responses to spironolactone were explored. Patients from Russia/Georgia were younger, had less atrial fibrillation and diabetes mellitus, but were more likely to have had prior myocardial infarction or a hospitalization for heart failure. Russia/Georgia patients also had lower left ventricular ejection fraction and creatinine but higher diastolic blood pressure (all P<0.001). Hyperkalemia and doubling of creatinine were more likely and hypokalemia was less likely in patients receiving spironolactone in the Americas with no significant treatment effects in Russia/Georgia. All clinical event rates were markedly lower in Russia/Georgia, and there was no detectable impact of spironolactone on any outcomes. In contrast, in the Americas, the rates of the primary outcome, cardiovascular death, and hospitalization for heart failure were significantly reduced by spironolactone.
This post hoc analysis demonstrated greater potassium and creatinine changes and possible clinical benefits with spironolactone in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction from the Americas.
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00094302.
Background
Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is increasing in prevalence, and remains a significant source of mortality and limb loss. The decision to recommend surgical or endovascular revascularization ...for patients who are candidates for both varies significantly among providers and is driven more by individual preference than scientific evidence.
Methods and Results
The Best Endovascular Versus Best Surgical Therapy for Patients With Critical Limb Ischemia (BEST‐CLI) Trial is a prospective, randomized, multidisciplinary, controlled, superiority trial designed to compare treatment efficacy, functional outcomes, quality of life, and cost in patients undergoing best endovascular or best open surgical revascularization. Approximately 140 clinical sites in the United States and Canada will enroll 2100 patients with CLI who are candidates for both treatment options. A pragmatic trial design requires consensus on patient eligibility by at least 2 investigators, but leaves the choice of specific procedural strategy within the assigned revascularization approach to the individual treating investigator. Patients with suitable single‐segment of saphenous vein available for potential bypass will be randomized within Cohort 1 (n=1620), while patients without will be randomized within Cohort 2 (n=480). The primary efficacy end point of the trial is Major Adverse Limb Event–Free Survival. Key secondary end points include Re‐intervention and Amputation‐Free‐Survival and Amputation Free‐Survival.
Conclusions
The BEST‐CLI trial is the first randomized controlled trial comparing endovascular therapy to open surgical bypass in patients with CLI to be carried out in North America. This landmark comparative effectiveness trial aims to provide Level I data to clarify the appropriate role for both treatment strategies and help define an evidence‐based standard of care for this challenging patient population.
Clinical Trial Registration
URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT02060630.
Background Despite increasing prevalence of heart failure (HF) in patients with preserved ejection fraction (PEF), there are no available therapies proven to reduce morbidity and mortality. ...Aldosterone, a potent stimulator of myocardial and vascular fibrosis, may be a key mediator of HF progression in this population and is therefore an important therapeutic target. Objective The TOPCAT trial is designed to evaluate the effect of spironolactone, an aldosterone antagonist, on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life in patients with HF-PEF. Methods Up to 3,515 patients with HF-PEF will be randomized in double-blind fashion to treatment with spironolactone (target dose 30 mg daily) or matching placebo. Eligible patients include those with age ≥50 years, left ventricular ejection fraction ≥45%, symptomatic HF, and either a hospitalization for HF within the prior year or an elevated natriuretic peptide level (B-type natriuretic peptide ≥100 pg/mL or N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide ≥360 pg/mL) within the 60 days before randomization. Patients with uncontrolled hypertension and those with known infiltrative or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are excluded. The primary end point is the composite of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for HF, or aborted cardiac arrest. Key secondary end points include quality of life, nonfatal cardiovascular events, and new-onset atrial fibrillation. Ancillary studies of echocardiography, tonometry, and cardiac biomarkers will provide more insight regarding this understudied population and the effects of spironolactone therapy. Conclusion TOPCAT is designed to assess definitively the role of spironolactone in the management of HF-PEF.
Background
How platelet (PLT) product characteristics such as dose, source (whole blood derived WBD vs. apheresis), storage duration, and ABO matching status affect the risks of transfusion‐related ...adverse events (TRAEs) is unclear. Similarly, more information is needed to define how recipient characteristics affect the frequency of TRAEs after PLT transfusion.
Study Design and Methods
In the multicenter Platelet Dose (“PLADO”) study, pediatric and adult hematology‐oncology patients with hypoproliferative thrombocytopenia were randomized to receive low‐dose (LD), medium‐dose (MD), or high‐dose (HD) PLT prophylaxis for a pretransfusion PLT count of not more than 10 × 109/L. All PLT units (apheresis or WBD) were leukoreduced. Post hoc analyses of PLADO data were performed using multipredictor models.
Results
A total of 5034 PLT transfusions to 1102 patients were analyzed. A TRAE occurred with 501 PLT transfusions (10.0%). The most common TRAEs were fever (6.6% of transfusions), allergic or hypersensitivity reactions (1.9%), and sinus tachycardia (1.8%). Patients assigned HD PLTs were more likely than LD or MD patients to experience any TRAE (odds ratio for HD vs. MD, 1.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.10‐2.05; three‐group comparison p = 0.02). PLT source and ABO matching status were not significantly related to overall TRAE risk. Compared to a patient's first PLT transfusion, subsequent PLT transfusions were less likely to have a TRAE reported, primarily due to a lower risk of allergic or hypersensitivity reactions.
Conclusion
The most important PLT unit characteristic associated with TRAEs was PLT dose per transfusion. HD PLTs may increase the risk of TRAEs, and LD PLTs may reduce the risk.
Baseline data collected on each patient at randomisation in controlled clinical trials can be used to describe the population of patients, to assess comparability of treatment groups, to achieve ...balanced randomisation, to adjust treatment comparisons for prognostic factors, and to undertake subgroup analyses. We assessed the extent and quality of such practices in major clinical trial reports.
A sample of 50 consecutive clinical-trial reports was obtained from four major medical journals during July to September, 1997. We tabulated the detailed information on uses of baseline data by use of a standard form.
Most trials presented baseline comparability in a table. These tables were often unduly large, and about half the trials inappropriately used significance tests for baseline comparison. Methods of randomisation, including possible stratification, were often poorly described. There was little consistency over whether to use covariate adjustment and the criteria for selecting baseline factors for which to adjust were often unclear. Most trials emphasised the simple unadjusted results and covariate adjustment usually made negligible difference. Two-thirds of the reports presented subgroup findings, but mostly without appropriate statistical tests for interaction. Many reports put too much emphasis on subgroup analyses that commonly lacked statistical power.
Clinical trials need a predefined statistical analysis plan for uses of baseline data, especially covariate-adjusted analyses and subgroup analyses. Investigators and journals need to adopt improved standards of statistical reporting, and exercise caution when drawing conclusions from subgroup findings.
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Existing data on cardiac structure and function in HFpEF suggest significant ...heterogeneity in this population.
Echocardiograms were obtained from 935 patients with HFpEF (left ventricular ejection fraction ≥45%) enrolled in the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial before initiation of randomized therapy. Average age was 70±10 years, 49% were women, 14% were of African descent, and comorbidities were highly prevalent. Centralized quantitative analysis in a blinded core laboratory demonstrated a mean left ventricular ejection fraction of 59.3±7.9%, with prevalent concentric left ventricular remodeling (34%) and hypertrophy (43%), and left atrial enlargement (53%). Diastolic dysfunction was present in 66% of gradable participants and was significantly associated with greater left ventricular hypertrophy and a higher prevalence of left atrial enlargement. Doppler evidence of pulmonary hypertension was present in 36%. At least 1 measure of structural heart disease was present in 93% of patients.
Patients enrolled in TOPCAT demonstrated heterogeneous patterns of ventricular remodeling, with high prevalence of structural heart disease, including left ventricular hypertrophy and left atrial enlargement, in addition to pulmonary hypertension, each of which has been associated with adverse outcomes in HFpEF. Diastolic function was normal in approximately one third of gradable participants, highlighting the heterogeneity of the cardiac phenotype in this syndrome. These findings deepen our understanding of the TOPCAT trial population and expand our knowledge of the diversity of the cardiac phenotype in HFpEF.
URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00094302.
High-dose granulocyte transfusion therapy has been available for 20 years, yet its clinical efficacy has never been conclusively demonstrated. We report here the results of RING (Resolving Infection ...in Neutropenia with Granulocytes), a multicenter randomized controlled trial designed to address this question. Eligible subjects were those with neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count <500/μL) and proven/probable/presumed infection. Subjects were randomized to receive either (1) standard antimicrobial therapy or (2) standard antimicrobial therapy plus daily granulocyte transfusions from donors stimulated with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and dexamethasone. The primary end point was a composite of survival plus microbial response, at 42 days after randomization. Microbial response was determined by a blinded adjudication panel. Fifty-six subjects were randomized to the granulocyte arm and 58 to the control arm. Transfused subjects received a median of 5 transfusions. Mean transfusion dose was 54.9 × 109 granulocytes. Overall success rates were 42% and 43% for the granulocyte and control groups, respectively (P > .99), and 49% and 41%, respectively, for subjects who received their assigned treatments (P = .64). Success rates for granulocyte and control arms did not differ within any infection type. In a post hoc analysis, subjects who received an average dose per transfusion of ≥0.6 × 109 granulocytes per kilogram tended to have better outcomes than those receiving a lower dose. In conclusion, there was no overall effect of granulocyte transfusion on the primary outcome, but because enrollment was half that planned, power to detect a true beneficial effect was low. RING was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00627393.
•Overall, no benefit of granulocyte transfusion therapy was observed, but the power of the study was reduced due to low accrual.•Post hoc secondary analysis suggested that patients receiving higher doses tended to have better outcomes than those receiving lower ones.
Thrombocytopenia and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) are common among very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants. Survey results suggest that US neonatologists frequently administer platelet transfusions ...to VLBW infants with mild to moderate thrombocytopenia.
To characterize platelet transfusion practices in US neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), to determine whether severity of illness influences platelet transfusion decisions, and to examine the association between platelet count (PCT) and the risk for IVH in the first 7 days of life.
This multicenter, retrospective cohort study included 972 VLBW infants treated in 6 US NICUs, with admission dates from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2007. Data were collected from all infants until NICU discharge or death (last day of data collected, December 4, 2008). Data were entered into the central database, cleaned, and analyzed from May 1, 2009, to February 11, 2016.
Platelet transfusion.
Number of platelet transfusions and incidence of IVH.
Among the 972 VLBW infants (520 53.5% male; mean SD gestational age, 28.2 2.9 weeks), 231 received 1002 platelet transfusions (mean SD, 4.3 6.0 per infant; range, 1-63 per infant). The pretransfusion PCT was at least 50 000/μL for 653 of 998 transfusions (65.4%) with this information. Two hundred eighty-one transfusions (28.0%) were given during the first 7 days of life. During that period, platelet transfusions were given on 35 of 53 days (66.0%) when the patient had a PCT less than 50 000/μL and on 203 of 436 days (46.6%) when the patient had a PCT of 50 000/μL to 99 000/μL. At least 1 marker of severe illness was present on 198 of 212 patient-days (93.4%) with thrombocytopenia (PCT, <100 000/μL) when a platelet transfusion was given compared with 113 of 190 patient-days (59.5%) with thrombocytopenia when no platelet transfusion was given. Thrombocytopenia was a risk factor for intraventricular hemorrhage during the first 7 days of life (hazard ratio, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.53-3.08; P < .001). However, no correlation was found between severity of thrombocytopenia and risk for IVH. After controlling for significant clinical factors and thrombocytopenia, platelet transfusions did not have a significant effect on the incidence of IVH (hazard ratio, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.49-1.73; P = .80).
A large proportion of platelet transfusions were given to VLBW infants with PCT greater than 50 000/μL. Severity of illness influenced transfusion decisions. However, the severity of thrombocytopenia did not correlate with the risk for IVH, and platelet transfusions did not reduce this risk.
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