The 2004 Annual Meeting (January 14-20, 2004) of OASYS_NEW

Not yet assigned to a slot - 3:20 AM

The Effects of Herbal Supplements on Platelet Function

Beckert BW1, Smith DS2, Puckett CL1, and Concannon MJ1. (1) Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Missouri, One Hospital Drive, Columbia, MO, USA, (2) Pathology, University of Missouri, One Hospital Drive, Columbia, MO, USA

Purpose: Over-the-counter herbal supplements are used by millions of Americans. These agents are largely unregulated: no proof of efficacy, safety, or standards for quality is currently required based on the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994. There have been isolated claims and concerns regarding the impact of some of these agents on clotting and hemostasis, which could cause potential harm in the elective surgical patient. The purpose of this study was to determine if commonly consumed herbal supplements can cause significant derangements in platelet function and hence increase the risk of perioperative bleeding.

Methods: Ten non-smoking healthy 20-50 year old male and female subjects without known bleeding abnormalities and not on other medications were used as the sample population. Baseline coagulation studies including prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), thrombin time (TT), fibrinogen, platelet count, bleeding time and PFA 100 closing times were performed on all subjects and found to be normal. Subjects were then administered specific over-the-counter herbal supplements for two-week intervals. Platelet function was assessed using the PFA-100, a device which evaluates platelet function of whole blood. Following a two-week abstinence period, another supplement was taken for two weeks. This was performed for a total of seven cycles for the following agents: Saw Palmetto, Glucosamine/Chondroitin sulfate, St. John’s Wort, Ginko, Ginseng, Garlic and aspirin.

Results: All subjects completed the study protocol. No herbal supplement was found to increase PFA 100 closing times to suggest platelet dysfunction. As anticipated, aspirin prolonged the PFA 100 closing times confirming its inhibition of platelet function.

Conclusions: Herbal supplements do not appear to affect platelet function as shown by the normal PFA 100 results. With this information, we conclude that stopping these herbal supplements prior to surgery (for concerns regarding platelet dysfunction) is unwarranted.


Back to Concurrent Scientific Paper Session A-1
Back to American Association for Hand Surgery

Back to The 2004 Annual Meeting (January 14-20, 2004)