AB136. SOH24AB_112. Do we need to group and hold for elective breast surgery?
General Poster Session

AB136. SOH24AB_112. Do we need to group and hold for elective breast surgery?

Eimear Roche, Huilun Huan, Karl Sweeney, Aoife Lowery, Laura Curry

Department of Surgery, Galway University Hospital, Galway, Ireland

Background: Standardised national guidelines for routine blood ordering for elective surgery are provided by the Maximum Surgical Blood Order Schedule (MSBOS), published by the Health Service Executive. In the event of an elective simple mastectomy, the schedule suggests performing a group and hold (G&H). However, the MSBOS does not provide guidance on other elective breast procedures.

Methods: Data were obtained between June 1st and October 30th 2023, and collected on November 1st 2023. Patients included in the study were any patients undergoing elective breast surgery. We analysed the surgical indications for G&H in each case, whether a G&H or crossmatch was performed, and if a transfusion was given, along with the indication for it. A cost analysis was then carried out on the blood tests ordered.

Results: Over the 4-month period, data from 125 patients were gathered. A total of 31 G&H were ordered, along with 5 crossmatches. Of the 5 crossmatches ordered, only 1 patient required a blood transfusion; however, this was due to post-op pulmonary embolism. The average cost of a G&H is approximately €30, whereas the cost of a crossmatch is estimated at €80.

Conclusions: A total of €1,370 was spent on blood ordering requests, consisting of €930 for routine G&H and €400 for crossmatch requests. There is an evident need for local guidelines to be established to standardise the indications for pre-operative G&H/crossmatch in all cases of elective breast surgery, not just simple mastectomy.

Keywords: Breast; crossmatch; elective; group and hold (G&H); surgery

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-24-ab136
Cite this abstract as: Roche E, Huan H, Sweeney K, Lowery A, Curry L. AB136. SOH24AB_112. Do we need to group and hold for elective breast surgery? Mesentery Peritoneum 2024;8:AB136.

Article Options

Download Citation

Share