Value of thromboelastography combined with anticoagulant detection in patients over 60 years of age with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cerebrovascular disease (CBVD) are common diseases in middle-aged and elderly people with high morbidity, mortality and disability rates. Individualized assessment and treatment are helpful to improve the quality of life and prognosis of patients. Thrombelastography (TEG) is a method to evaluate the coagulation function of patient with whole blood. In this study, we investigated the correlation between TEG indicators and traditional indicators of coagulation, and evaluated the diagnostic value of TEG combined with indicators of coagulation in elderly patients with CVD and CBVD. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the thrombelastographic indices and traditional indicators of coagulation in 285 cases of elderly patients with CBVD or CVD. All measures were performed by the Department of Clinical Laboratory in the Second Hospital of Jilin University between January 2016 and December 2018. RESULTS Compared with the control group, the platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), and APTT were increased in the CBVD group. K value, MPV, and the MPV/PLT ratio were higher, but fibrinogen levels and the PT were lower in the CVD group than in the control group. In the CVD and CBVD groups, the R value was positively correlated with APTT, the K value was negatively correlated with fibrinogen, α angle was positively correlated with fibrinogen, and the MA was positively correlated with the platelet count and fibrinogen, but negatively correlated with MPV/PLT. The FDP was significantly higher, whereas the D-dimer/FDP ratio was lower in the CBVD group than in the CVD group. CONCLUSIONS The combined detection of TEG and traditional indicators is more effective than detection using only routine indices in the assessment of the coagulation status of elderly patients with CVD or CBVD. The MPV/PLT and D-dimer/FDP ratios can be used as indices of anticoagulant function.