Recombinant factor VIIa use in acute type A aortic dissection repair: A multicenter propensity-score-matched report from the Nordic Consortium for Acute Type A Aortic Dissection

Surgery for acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) is often complicated by excessive bleeding. Recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) effectively treats refractory bleeding associated with ATAAD surgery; however, adverse effects of rFVIIa in these patients have not been fully assessed. Here we evaluated rFVIIa treatment in ATAAD surgery using the Nordic Consortium for Acute Type A Aortic Dissection (NORCAAD) database. This was a multicenter, propensity score–matched, retrospective study. Information about rFVIIa use was available for 761 patients, of whom 171 were treated with rFVIIa. We successfully matched 120 patients treated with rFVIIa with 120 controls. Primary endpoints were in-hospital mortality, postoperative stroke, and renal replacement therapy (RRT). Survival data were presented using Kaplan-Meier estimates. Compared with controls, patients treated with rFVIIa received more transfusions of packed red blood cells (median, 9.0 U [4.0-17.0 U] vs 5.0 U [2.0-11.0 U]; P = .008), platelets (4.0 U [2.0-8.0 U] vs 2.0 U [1.0-4.4 U]; P