Impact of intraoperative allogeneic platelet transfusion on healthcare-associated infections in cardiac surgery: insights from a large single-center cohort study

Objectives Despite significant improvement in patient blood management-cardiac surgery remains a high hemorrhagic risk procedure. Platelet transfusion is commonly used to treat thrombocytopenia-induced perioperative bleeding. Allogeneic platelet transfusion may induce transfusion-related immunomodulation. However, its association with postoperative healthcare-associated infections is still a matter of debate. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of allogeneic platelet transfusion during cardiac surgery on postoperative HAI incidence. Design Retrospective cohort study Setting Tertiary referral academic center Participants Patients undergoing cardiac surgery from 2012 to 2018. Interventions None Measurements and Main Results Intraoperative platelet transfusion was defined as exposure in a causal model. The primary outcome was the incidence of healthcare-associated infections-comprised of bloodstream infection-hospital-acquired pneumonia and surgical-site infection. Among 7662 included patients, 528 (6.8%) were exposed to intraoperative platelet transfusion and 329 (4.3%) developed 454 postoperative infections. Bloodstream infection affected 106 (1.4%) patients, hospital-acquired pneumonia 174 (2.3%) and surgical-site infection 148 (1.9%). Intraoperative platelet transfusion was associated with an increased risk of bloodstream infection after adjustment by multivariable logistic regression (OR 2.85; 95%CI (1.40-5.8); p=0.004; n=7662), propensity score matching (OR 3.95; 95%CI (1.57-12.0), p=0.007; n=766) and propensity score overlap weighting (OR 3.04; 95%CI (1.51-6.1), p=0.002; n=7762). Surgical-site infection and hospital-acquired pneumonia were not significantly increased by platelet transfusion. Conclusions Our results suggest that intraoperative allogeneic platelet transfusion is a risk factor for bloodstream infection after cardiac surgery. These results support the development of patient blood management strategies aiming at minimizing perioperative platelet transfusion in cardiac surgery.