Every minute counts: Time to delivery of initial massive transfusion cooler and its impact on mortality

BACKGROUND American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Best Practices recommends initial massive transfusion (MT) cooler delivery within 15 minutes of protocol activation, with a goal of 10 minutes. The current study sought to examine the impact of timing of first cooler delivery on patient outcomes. METHODS Patients predicted to receive MT at 12 Level I trauma centers were randomized to two separate transfusion ratios as described in the PROPPR trial. Assessment of Blood Consumption score or clinician gestalt prediction of MT was used to randomize patients and call for initial study cooler. In this planned subanalysis, the time to MT protocol activation and time to delivery of the initial cooler were evaluated. The impact of these times on mortality and time to hemostasis were examined using both Wilcoxon rank sum and linear and logistic regression. RESULTS Among 680 patients, the median time from patient arrival to MT protocol activation was 9 minutes with a median time from MT activation call to delivery of first cooler of 8 minutes. An increase in both time to MT activation and time to arrival of first cooler were associated with prolonged time to achieving hemostasis (coefficient, 1.09; p = 0.001 and coefficient, 1.16; p < 0.001, respectively). Increased time to MT activation and time to arrival of first cooler were associated with increased mortality (odds ratio [OR], 1.02; p = 0.009 and OR, 1.02; p = 0.012, respectively). Controlling for injury severity, physiology, resuscitation intensity, and treatment arm (1:1:1 vs. 1:1:2), increased time to arrival of first cooler was associated with an increased mortality at 24 hours (OR, 1.05; p = 0.035) and 30 days (OR, 1.05, p = 0.016). CONCLUSION Delays in MT protocol activation and delays in initial cooler arrival were associated with prolonged time to achieve hemostasis and an increase in mortality. Independent of products ratios, every minute from time of MT protocol activation to time of initial cooler arrival increases odds of mortality by 5%. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic, level II; Therapeutic, level III.