Can Pre-operative Anemia be Timely Identified and Optimized in Patients Awaiting Primary Arthroplasty Surgery? A Randomized Clinical Trial

Reducing the occurrence of anemia (low circulating hemoglobin levels) post-surgery has been associated with improved outcome, as it reduces complications and allows for faster return to pre-operative function. Post-operative hemoglobin level is dependent upon its pre-operative value (for a given amount of blood loss). About 17% of patients at the Ottawa Hospital (TOH), will be anemic pre-operatively, and if left untreated the patients will have significantly inferior outcomes compared to non-anemic patients. In order to improve outcomes, when a patient is identified as anemic, typically at the pre-operative assessment clinic, he/she is invited to be reviewed and optimized at the Pre-operative Blood Optimization Clinic (PBOC). However, only a quarter of anemic patients are seen in the PBOC due to the lack of time available between anemia identification and surgery and the current resources available. This project will focus on hemoglobin level optimization of pre-operative hip and knee, primary, arthroplasty patients to demonstrate whether early assessment and treatment of pre-operative anemia can be successfully integrated into practice and its impact on post-operative outcomes. Patients will be randomly assigned to either the current standard of care pathway with an anemia test at the pre-operative assessment clinic (2-4 weeks before surgery), at which time they have the option to seek treatment. Patients who are randomly selected to be in the experimental group, will undergo a test to detect anemia at the time they consent for surgery, which is usually 4-6 months prior to surgery. Patients with anemia, will be invited for treatment at the blood optimization clinic at this time. In doing so, this project will test whether timely identification and simple measures is feasible and whether such practice can reduce the overall anemia burden and ultimately improve patient outcome.