Intraoperative Anemia and Single Red Blood Cell Transfusion During Cardiac Surgery: An Assessment of Postoperative Outcome Including Patients Refusing Blood Transfusion
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests benefits from restrictive red blood cell transfusion (RBC) thresholds in major surgery and critically ill patients. However, these benefits are not obvious in cardiac surgery patients with intraoperative anemia. The authors examined the association between uncorrected hemoglobin (Hb) levels and selected postoperative outcomes as well as the effects of RBCs. Cohort study with prospectively collected data from a cardiac surgery registry. A major cardiac surgical hospital within the Netherlands, which is also a referral center for Jehovah's Witnesses. Patients (23,860) undergoing cardiac surgery between 1997 and 2013. Comparisons were done in patients with intraoperative nadir Hb<8 g/dL and/or an Hb decrease ≥ 50%. Comparison (A) between Jehovah's Witnesses (Witnesses) and matched non-Jehovah's Witnesses (non-Witnesses) transfused with 1 unit of RBC, and comparison (B) between patients given 1 unit of RBC intraoperatively versus matched non-transfused patients. Postoperative outcomes were myocardial infarction, renal replacement therapy, stroke, and death. With propensity matching, the authors optimized exchangeability of the compared groups. Adverse outcomes increased with a decreasing Hb both among W...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Anemia
Anemia develops when your blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells. Anemia of inflammation (AI, also called anemia of chronic disease) is a common, typically normocytic, normochromic anemia that is caused by an underlying inflammatory disease. Here is the latest research on anemia.