A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study Evaluating the Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Coagulopathy Undergoing Transcatheter Arterial Embolization (TAE) for Acute Non-Neurovascular Bleeding

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) is the mainstay of treatment for acute major hemorrhage, even in patients with coagulopathy and spontaneous bleeding. Coagulopathy is associated with worsening bleeding severity and higher mortality and clinical failure rates. Furthermore, some unanswered questions remain, such as the definition of coagulopathy, the indication for TAE or conservative treatment, and the choice of embolic agent. This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of TAE for spontaneous non-neurovascular acute bleeding in patients with coagulopathy. Materials and Methods: This study is a multicenter analysis of retrospectively collected data of consecutive patients with coagulopathy who had undergone, from January 2018 to May 2023, transcatheter arterial embolization for the management of spontaneous hemorrhages. Results: During the study interval (January 2018–May 2023), 120 patients with coagulopathy underwent TAE for spontaneous non-neurovascular acute bleeding. The abdominal wall was the most common bleeding site (72.5%). The most commonly used embolic agent was polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) particles or microspheres (25.0%), whereas coils and gelatin sponge together accounted for 32.5% of the embolic agents used. Technical success was achieved in all cases, with a 92.5% clinical success rate related to 9 cases of rebleeding. Complications were recorded in 12 (10%) patients. Clinical success was significantly better in the group of patients who underwent correction of the coagulopathy within 24 h of TAE. Conclusions: Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) is effective and safe for the management of acute non-neurovascular bleeding in patients with coagulopathy. Correction of coagulopathy should not delay TAE and vice versa, as better clinical outcomes were noted in the subgroup of patients undergoing correction of coagulopathy within 24 h of TAE.