Blood Transfusion Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Blood Transfusion, including details on blood donation, blood types, leukemia.

Adjusted transfusion triggers improve transfusion practice in orthopaedic surgery.

Eindhoven GB, Diercks RL, Richardson FJ, van Raaij JJ, Hagenaars JA, van Horn JR, de Wolf JT

Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Although blood transfusion has never been safer, there remains concern about adverse effects. We designed guidelines, the 6-8-10-Flexinorm, based on the conditions which are relevant to the decision to transfuse. To evaluate these new guidelines, we performed a case-control study in patients undergoing elective primary total hip replacement. The study consisted of two parts. In the first part, physicians were strongly encouraged to use the new guidelines; in the second part, only registration took place. During the first and second part of the study, the use of packed red cells (PRC) in Hospital A (study hospital) decreased from 1.1 +/- 1.5 to 0.6 +/- 1.2 and 0.3 +/- 0.9 units, whereas in Hospital B (control), the use of PRC remained unchanged (1 +/- 1.5, 1 +/- 1.7 and 1 +/- 2 units). In the prestudy groups, 43% of the patients in Hospital A were transfused compared to 45% in Hospital B. In the first and second part of the study, 27%, respectively, 14% of the patients in Hospital A were transfused compared to 40% in both periods in Hospital B. The new guidelines lead to a reduction in the use of allogeneic blood and a decrease in the number of patients transfused.

Published 16 February 2005 in Transfus Med, 15(1): 13-8.
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