Indications for blood and blood product transfusion

Abstract

Transfusion of blood products carries certain inherent risks and hence it should be undertaken only if it improves patient outcome. A review of the literature was carried out to find the indications and effects of transfusion on morbidity and mortality of patients. There is high-quality evidence showing that restrictive blood transfusion with a transfusion trigger of haemoglobin of 7-8 g/dl or the presence of symptoms of anaemia is safe and not associated with increased mortality compared with liberal transfusion. Thus, restrictive strategy is strongly recommended in surgical and critically ill-patients. There is moderate evidence for the use of plasma and platelet transfusion in patients receiving massive blood transfusion. There is not enough evidence to support the use of plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate in any other clinical setting. Retrospective studies show improved survival after high plasma and platelet to red blood cell ratio of 1:1:1, but this has not been confirmed in randomised trials.

Keywords: Blood; blood products; plasma; platelets; red blood cells; transfusion; transfusion trigger.