WebM&M: Case Studies

A 74-year-old male with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure with an EF of 45%, stage I chronic kidney disease and gout presented for a total hip replacement. He had multiple home medications and was also on Warfarin, which was held appropriately prior to the surgery.  A Type and Cross for blood request was sent along with baseline labs; however, there was a mislabeling error on one of the samples causing a delay in the blood getting to the operating room resulting in the medical team initiating a massive transfusion protocol when the patient became hypotensive.

Following spinal surgeries, two different patients developed tachycardia, hypotension, and hypoxia due to sepsis. Given the similarity in clinical course, the hospital investigated and found that both patients had received platelets contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.