Perioperative Management for Microvascular Free Tissue Transfer: A Pilot Study Examining the Utility of a Checklist in Improving Communication Between Microsurgeons and Anesthesiologists

Background: Free tissue transfer procedures are complex, therefore communication between anesthesiologists and microsurgeons is essential. The pre-operative surgical checklist has been shown to decrease complications (1, 2), but a checklist specific to free tissue transfer cases has not been described. Evidence-based guidelines for intraoperative management of free flaps were developed (3), and used to produce a pre-operative checklist (Figure 1). Our goal is to evaluate if a checklist guiding perioperative management for free flap procedures improves communication and adherence to evidence-based guidelines.

Methods: 154 patients who underwent free tissue transfer between January 2011 and February 2015 were selected for this study. Seventy-seven patients (checklist group) underwent free tissue transfer after the microsurgeon and the anesthesiologist had a directed pre-operative discussion following the items detailed in the checklist. Seventy-seven matched patients were retrospectively selected as controls, who had undergone free flaps without a checklist guided discussion. Anesthesia records were reviewed retrospectively for data on core temperature range, crystalloid administration, urine output and use of vasopressors.

Results:  Demographic data and types of flaps are summarized in Table 1 and Table 2. Sixty-three percent of the checklist group had crystalloid administration in recommended range of 3.5cc/kg/hr-6 cc/kg/hr. However, only 38% of the control group had crystalloid administration in the recommended range (p=0.0022). Overall,  33.7% of the patients in the control group received IVF in excess of 7L intra-operatively vs. 10.3% of patients in the checklist group (p=0.0046).  Mean core body temperature was less than 35C° in 16.8% of control group of patients vs. 2.5% in the checklist group of patients (p=0.0027).  Finally, vasopressors were used in 27.2% of patients in both control and checklist group. However, in the checklist group, the type and timing of vasopressor use was always discussed with the microsurgeon, whereas this only occurred in 14% of control group patients (p<0.0001).

Conclusion: Our pilot study demonstrates that a pre-operative checklist guiding intraoperative management ensures critical communication between microsurgeons and anesthesiologists, leading to appropriate vasopressor use, decreasing excessive crystalloid administration and maintaining recommended body temperature. While further studies are necessary to determine the impact on outcomes, we believe that a checklist, as described, is an essential tool in free tissue transfer cases. 

Legends:

Figure 1. Perioperative Checklist

Table 1. Demographic data

Table 2. Reconstruction type