The conundrum of persistent inappropriate use of frozen plasma

Abstract

Frozen plasma (FP) is commonly used for the treatment of bleeding or the prevention of bleeding in critically ill patients, but clinical evidence to help aid the critical care clinician make decisions on whether to transfuse or not is at present limited. Despite the limited evidence, it appears FP is administered not infrequently in the absence of bleeding or with no required procedure when the international normalized ratio (INR) is essentially normal (<1.5) or only mildly deranged (<2.5). The study by Stanworth and colleagues in a recent issue of Critical Care raises awareness of FP transfusion use in the critically ill, should prompt a consideration of curbing its use when it is not clearly appropriate, and illustrates the need for future high quality evidence to guide FP use in the critically ill when the risk:benefit ratio is less clear.