Introduction:

Coagulation tests are no value to determine the risk of perioperative bleeding.

Material and methods:

An observational descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in 2,114 patients in the anesthesiology consultation of the University Hospital «Dr. Celestino Hernández Robau».

Results:

The clotting and bleeding time was performed in 100% of cases, the platels count in 93.99%. While the prothrombin time and activated partial tromboplastin time were performed in 66.27 and 55.62% respectively. Of 8,834 tests carried out, 49 were found to be altered for 0.55%. Patients with altered tests were for 1.56%, patients at risk of bleeding from coagulation tests were 30 for 1.42% and patients at risk with no history of bleeding detected by coagulation tests were three for 0.14%. Perioperative bleeding was reported in 16 patients for 0.76%, seven patients with positive questioning and normal tests and nine patients with negative questioning and normal tests.

Conclusions:

The patient’s medical history and physical examination are the best tools to predict the risk of surgical bleeding and isolated coagulation tests do not constitute a good predictor of perioperative bleeding.