Volume 8 Supplement 2
Edited by Lena Napolitano, Howard Corwin and Mitchell Fink
Supported by an educational grant from Ortho Biotech Clinical Affairs, LLC
During the past 20 years, the perceived value of blood transfusions has changed as it has become appreciated that transfusions are not without risk. Red blood cell transfusion has been associated with disease ...
Trauma is the leading cause of death from age 1 to 34 years and is the fifth leading cause of death overall in the USA, with uncontrolled hemorrhage being the leading cause of potentially preventable death. Im...
Although preoperative autologous blood donation is employed in elective surgery, this is declining because of the increasingly safe allogeneic blood supply. However, it continues to be used because of the publ...
Intraoperative autologous transfusions have been used for many years to avoid transmission of infections, especially in vascular surgery, where blood usage is considerable. Several autotransfusion devices exis...
The formation of red blood cells (RBCs) in the bone marrow is regulated by erythropoietin in response to a cascade of events. Anemia in the intensive care unit can be caused by a host of factors. Patients in t...
Critically ill patients receive an extraordinarily large number of blood transfusions. Between 40% and 50% of all patients admitted to intensive care units receive at least 1 red blood cell (RBC) unit during t...
Persons who suffer traumatic injury are likely to be transfused with considerable amounts of blood during initial resuscitation efforts. Oxygen-carrying solutions are currently in clinical testing as substitut...
The safety of the blood supply has been a concern over the past 20–30 years because of the transmission of infectious diseases. Blood is still routinely tested for viruses, and leukoreduction is an effective s...
The quality and economy of critical care could both be improved if blood losses due to phlebotomy and sampling from indwelling catheters for unnecessary diagnostic testing were curtailed. Practice guidelines c...
Transfusable fluids that may be used as alternatives to red blood cell transfusion offer the promise of preserving tissue perfusion and minimizing hypoxic cellular damage, and this promise may soon be fulfille...
Preoperative anemia in a surgical patient predisposes to poor outcomes and allogeneic blood transfusions. As an alternative to transfusions, pharmacologic management of preoperative anemia with recombinant hum...
Derangements of iron metabolism may be present in critically ill patients who develop anemia during a stay in the intensive care unit. Iron supplementation may be appropriate, especially if an underlying nutri...
Anemia is a common problem in critically ill patients. It is caused, in part, by blood loss related to phlebotomy for diagnostic testing, occult gastrointestinal bleeding, renal replacement therapies, surgical...
Despite the increasing availability of data supporting more restrictive transfusion practices, the risks and benefits of transfusing critically ill patients continue to evoke controversy. Past retrospective an...
The decision to transfuse a hospitalized patient must balance the known risks of transfusion with the need to provide adequate tissue oxygenation and the appropriate utilization of blood as a scarce resource. ...
Blood transfusions remain common practice in the critical care and surgical settings. Transfusions carry significant risks, including risks for transmission of infectious agents and immune suppression. Transmi...
Critical Care