Tuesday August 28, 2007
Is fresh blood better ?

In a poster presentation (Dr. Hussam Jenad) at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society, results have been presented of a study span over 10 years including 12,264 patients (total median transfusion of 4 pRBC units). Study was done at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. It was found that

• adjusted in-hospital mortality was 5% if pRBC was stored for less than 7 days
• adjusted in-hospital mortality was 8% if pRBC was stored for 7-14 days
• adjusted in-hospital mortality was 13% if pRBC was stored for more than 14 days

This corresponds to a reduction in the risk of in-hospital mortality of 62% for patients receiving pRBC stored for less than 7 days.



Reference:

ATS 2007 poster presentations: The 2007 International Conference Abstracts of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) are published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Volume 175, Abstracts Issue, April 2007.