Near-patient testing of haemostasis in the operating theatre: an approach to appropriate use of blood in surgery.

Several haemostasis point-of-care (POC) monitors are now available in the operating theatre. Two of these are widely used; the Coaguchek and the thromboelastograph (TEG), but they have been developed in very different ways. Bedside-activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time performed with the Coaguchek monitor seem to be reliable and have been used to build algorithms for transfusion decision making. They have been developed in close collaboration with haemostasis groups and therefore gain a benefit from these links. Conversely, TEG provides very important information except it has never been validated. The number of collaborative studies with biologists has to increase in order to implement the use of TEG in the routine practice.