Restrictive blood transfusion and 1-year mortality in patients undergoing open abdominal surgery: A retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The importance of patient blood management is increasingly recognized in surgery patients. This study aimed to examine the effect of perioperative restrictive blood transfusion on 1-year mortality and blood transfusion rate in open abdominal surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 452 consecutive patients who underwent open abdominal surgery before (liberal group 233 patients) and after (restrictive group 219 patients) implementing intraoperative restrictive transfusion of red blood cell. The trigger levels of hemoglobin were less than 9-10 g/dL in the liberal group and less than 7-8 g/dL in the restrictive group. All-cause mortality at 1-year as the primary outcome and the transfusion rate of any allogeneic blood products as secondary outcome were compared between the liberal group and the restrictive group by the propensity-score matching. RESULTS: Among a total of 452 patients (69 ± 11 yr., 70.5 % men), overall mortality at 1 year was 8.4 % and the proportion of patients who received any allogeneic blood products was 19.6 %. Compared with 155 propensity-score matched patients of the liberal group, 155 matched patients of the restrictive group had significantly lower 1-year mortality (4 [2.5 %] versus 18 [11.6 %], p = 0.003, percent absolute risk reduction [%ARR]; 9.0, 95 % confidential interval [CI], 3.1-14.7) and had significantly lower proportion of patients who received any allogeneic blood products (21 [13.5 %] versus 41 [26.4 %], p = 0.006, %ARR; 12.9, 95 % CI, 3.9-21.5). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that intraoperative restrictive blood transfusion reduces 1-year mortality and the transfusion rate of allogeneic blood products.