Red Blood Cell Transfusion: 2023 AABB International Guidelines.

Importance: Red blood cell transfusion is a common medical intervention with benefits and harms. Objective: To provide recommendations for use of red blood cell transfusion in adults and children. Evidence Review: Standards for trustworthy guidelines were followed, including using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation methods, managing conflicts of interest, and making values and preferences explicit. Evidence from systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials was reviewed. Findings: For adults, 45 randomized controlled trials with 20 599 participants compared restrictive hemoglobin-based transfusion thresholds, typically 7 to 8 g/dL, with liberal transfusion thresholds of 9 to 10 g/dL. For pediatric patients, 7 randomized controlled trials with 2730 participants compared a variety of restrictive and liberal transfusion thresholds. For most patient populations, results provided moderate quality evidence that restrictive transfusion thresholds did not adversely affect patient-important outcomes. Recommendation 1: for hospitalized adult patients who are hemodynamically stable, the international panel recommends a restrictive transfusion strategy considering transfusion when the hemoglobin concentration is less than 7 g/dL (strong recommendation, moderate certainty evidence). In accordance with the restrictive strategy threshold used in most trials, clinicians may choose a threshold of 7.5 g/dL for patients undergoing cardiac surgery and 8 g/dL for those undergoing orthopedic surgery or those with preexisting cardiovascular disease. Recommendation 2: for hospitalized adult patients with hematologic and oncologic disorders, the panel suggests a restrictive transfusion strategy considering transfusion when the hemoglobin concentration is less than 7 g/dL (conditional recommendations, low certainty evidence). Recommendation 3: for critically ill children and those at risk of critical illness who are hemodynamically stable and without a hemoglobinopathy, cyanotic cardiac condition, or severe hypoxemia, the international panel recommends a restrictive transfusion strategy considering transfusion when the hemoglobin concentration is less than 7 g/dL (strong recommendation, moderate certainty evidence). Recommendation 4: for hemodynamically stable children with congenital heart disease, the international panel suggests a transfusion threshold that is based on the cardiac abnormality and stage of surgical repair: 7 g/dL (biventricular repair), 9 g/dL (single-ventricle palliation), or 7 to 9 g/dL (uncorrected congenital heart disease) (conditional recommendation, low certainty evidence). Conclusions and Relevance: It is good practice to consider overall clinical context and alternative therapies to transfusion when making transfusion decisions about an individual patient.

Patient blood management: recommendations rrom the 2018 Frankfurt consensus conference

What is the current evidence base for patient blood management (PBM) in adults, and what international clinical recommendations can be derived for preoperative anemia, red blood cell transfusion thresholds, and PBM implementation strategies? Diagnosis and management of preoperative anemia is crucial, and iron-deficient anemia should be treated with iron supplementation. Red blood cell transfusion thresholds for critically ill, clinically stable patients (hemoglobin concentration <7 g/dL), patients undergoing cardiac surgery (hemoglobin concentration <7.5 g/dL), patients with hip fractures and cardiovascular disease or risk factors (hemoglobin concentration <8 g/dL), and hemodynamically stable patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (hemoglobin concentration 7-8 g/dL) are relatively well defined, although the quality of evidence is moderate to low. Further high-quality research to support PBM is required for a range of clinical scenarios and implementation of PBM programs.

Clinical transfusion practice update: haemovigilance, complications, patient blood management and national standards.

Blood transfusion is not without risk. Although the risks of HIV and hepatitis transmission have diminished, haemovigilance programs highlight that other significant transfusion hazards remain. Sepsis from bacterial contamination is the most common residual infectious hazard in developed countries, and events due to clerical error are problematic. Unnecessary transfusions should be avoided. New national guidelines on patient blood management (PBM) emphasise holistic approaches, including strategies to reduce transfusion requirements. Perioperative PBM should incorporate preoperative haemoglobin and medication optimisation, intraoperative blood conservation, and consideration of restrictive postoperative transfusion and cell-salvage techniques. When massive transfusion is required, hospitals should implement massive transfusion protocols. These protocols reduce mortality, improve communication and facilitate adequate provision of blood products. They should include multidisciplinary team involvement and guidelines for use of blood components and adjunctive agents. Although fresh frozen plasma to red blood cell and platelet to red blood cell ratios of ≥ 1 : 2 appear to reduce mortality in trauma patients who receive massive transfusion, there is insufficient evidence to recommend specific ratios. Systematic reviews have found no significant benefit of recombinant activated factor VII in critical bleeding, and an increase in thromboembolic events; specialist haematology advice is therefore recommended when considering use of this agent. The National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards address use of blood and blood products, and provide important transfusion principles for adoption by all clinicians. Storage of red cells in additive solution results in changes, known as the "storage lesion", and studies to determine the clinical effect of the age of blood at transfusion are ongoing.