Penny-wise and pound-foolish: the challenges of preoperative anaemia management.

The timely correction of anaemia before major surgery is important for optimising perioperative patient outcomes. However, multiple barriers have precluded the global expansion of preoperative anaemia treatment programmes, including misconceptions about the true cost/benefit ratio for patient care and health system economics. Institutional investment and buy-in from stakeholders could lead to significant cost savings through avoided complications of anaemia and red blood cell transfusions, and through containment of direct and variable costs of blood bank laboratories. In some health systems, billing for iron infusions could generate revenue and promote growth of treatment programmes. The aim of this work is to galvanise integrated health systems worldwide to diagnose and treat anaemia before major surgery.

How I treat anemia in the perisurgical setting.

Anemia is a common finding in the perioperative setting with significant untoward consequences including worsening of outcomes and diminished quality of life as well as increased risk of allogeneic blood transfusions. Here, we present 3 cases that illustrate how anemia can be perioperatively managed in patients undergoing cardiac, orthopedic, and oncology surgeries. Timely detection of anemia prior to high-blood loss surgeries can allow clinicians to manage it and optimize hemoglobin level, making patients better prepared for the surgery. Treatment of anemia should be guided by the etiology and may include erythropoietic agents, folic acid, B12, and iron preparations. Other blood management strategies geared toward reducing surgical blood loss such as autologous transfusion techniques and agents to optimize hemostasis are used during surgery and in the immediate postoperative period. Patients should be closely monitored following surgery for signs of ongoing bleeding in need of control. Finally, screening for and management of anemia should continue in the postoperative and postdischarge period, as persistence and recurrence of anemia can further undermine patient's outcomes.

Perioperative Anemia: Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management Throughout the Spectrum of Perioperative Care.

Anemia is common in the perioperative period and is associated with poor patient outcomes. Remarkably, anemia is frequently ignored until hemoglobin levels drop low enough to warrant a red blood cell transfusion. This simplified transfusion-based approach has unfortunately shifted clinical focus away from strategies to adequately prevent, diagnose, and treat anemia through direct management of the underlying cause(s). While recommendations have been published for the treatment of anemia before elective surgery, information regarding the design and implementation of evidence-based anemia management strategies is sparse. Moreover, anemia is not solely a concern of the preoperative encounter. Rather, anemia must be actively addressed throughout the perioperative spectrum of patient care. This article provides practical information regarding the implementation of anemia management strategies in surgical patients throughout the perioperative period. This includes evidence-based recommendations for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of anemia, including the utility of iron supplementation and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs).

Management of Perioperative Iron Deficiency Anemia.

Preoperative anemia affects 30-40% of patients undergoing major surgery and is an independent risk factor for perioperative blood transfusion, morbidity, and mortality. Absolute or functional iron deficiency is its leading cause. Nonanemic hematinic deficiencies are also prevalent and may hamper preoperative hemoglobin optimization and/or recovery from postoperative anemia. As modifiable risk factors, anemia and hematinic deficiencies should be detected and corrected prior to major surgical procedures. Postoperative anemia is even more common (up to 80-90%) due to surgery-associated blood loss, inflammation-induced blunted erythropoiesis, and/or preexisting anemia. Preoperative oral iron may have a role in mild-to-moderate anemia, provided there is sufficient time (6-8 weeks) and adequate tolerance of oral preparations. Postoperative oral iron is of little value and rife with gastrointestinal adverse events. Intravenous iron should preferentially be used in cases of moderate-to-severe iron deficiency anemia, concomitant use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, short time to surgery or nonelective procedures, and for postoperative anemia management. Minor infusion reactions to intravenous iron are rare, the incidence of severe anaphylactic reactions is extremely low, and there is no increase in infections with intravenous iron. Currently available intravenous iron formulations allowing administration of large single doses are preferred.

Clinical Practice Guidelines From the AABB: Red Blood Cell Transfusion Thresholds and Storage.

Importance: More than 100 million units of blood are collected worldwide each year, yet the indication for red blood cell (RBC) transfusion and the optimal length of RBC storage prior to transfusion are uncertain. Objective: To provide recommendations for the target hemoglobin level for RBC transfusion among hospitalized adult patients who are hemodynamically stable and the length of time RBCs should be stored prior to transfusion. Evidence Review: Reference librarians conducted a literature search for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating hemoglobin thresholds for RBC transfusion (1950-May 2016) and RBC storage duration (1948-May 2016) without language restrictions. The results were summarized using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation method. For RBC transfusion thresholds, 31 RCTs included 12 587 participants and compared restrictive thresholds (transfusion not indicated until the hemoglobin level is 7-8 g/dL) with liberal thresholds (transfusion not indicated until the hemoglobin level is 9-10 g/dL). The summary estimates across trials demonstrated that restrictive RBC transfusion thresholds were not associated with higher rates of adverse clinical outcomes, including 30-day mortality, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident, rebleeding, pneumonia, or thromboembolism. For RBC storage duration, 13 RCTs included 5515 participants randomly allocated to receive fresher blood or standard-issue blood. These RCTs demonstrated that fresher blood did not improve clinical outcomes. Findings: It is good practice to consider the hemoglobin level, the overall clinical context, patient preferences, and alternative therapies when making transfusion decisions regarding an individual patient. Recommendation 1: a restrictive RBC transfusion threshold in which the transfusion is not indicated until the hemoglobin level is 7 g/dL is recommended for hospitalized adult patients who are hemodynamically stable, including critically ill patients, rather than when the hemoglobin level is 10 g/dL (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence). A restrictive RBC transfusion threshold of 8 g/dL is recommended for patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, cardiac surgery, and those with preexisting cardiovascular disease (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence). The restrictive transfusion threshold of 7 g/dL is likely comparable with 8 g/dL, but RCT evidence is not available for all patient categories. These recommendations do not apply to patients with acute coronary syndrome, severe thrombocytopenia (patients treated for hematological or oncological reasons who are at risk of bleeding), and chronic transfusion-dependent anemia (not recommended due to insufficient evidence). Recommendation 2: patients, including neonates, should receive RBC units selected at any point within their licensed dating period (standard issue) rather than limiting patients to transfusion of only fresh (storage length: <10 days) RBC units (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence). Conclusions and Relevance: Research in RBC transfusion medicine has significantly advanced the science in recent years and provides high-quality evidence to inform guidelines. A restrictive transfusion threshold is safe in most clinical settings and the current blood banking practices of using standard-issue blood should be continued.

Preoperative anemia and its management.

The WHO defines anemia as 13 g/dl in males, 12 g/dl in non-pregnant women, and 11 g/dl in pregnant women. Anemia is prevalent in various patient populations. The detrimental affect of anemia is present in all of this population of patients. Preoperative anemia is associated with perioperative increased perioperative morbidity and mortality and increased risks of blood transfusion, a standardized approach for the detection, evaluation, and management of anemia is needed.

Current status of pharmacologic therapies in patient blood management.

Patient blood management(1,2) incorporates patient-centered, evidence-based medical and surgical approaches to improve patient outcomes by relying on the patient's own (autologous) blood rather than allogeneic blood. Particular attention is paid to preemptive measures such as anemia management. The emphasis on the approaches being "patient-centered" is to distinguish them from previous approaches in transfusion medicine, which have been "product-centered" and focused on blood risks, costs, and inventory concerns rather than on patient outcomes. Patient blood management(3) structures its goals by avoiding blood transfusion(4) with effective use of alternatives to allogeneic blood transfusion.(5) These alternatives include autologous blood procurement, preoperative autologous blood donation, acute normovolemic hemodilution, and intra/postoperative red blood cell (RBC) salvage and reinfusion. Reviewed here are the available pharmacologic tools for anemia and blood management: erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs), iron therapy, hemostatic agents, and potentially, artificial oxygen carriers.

Iron deficiency anemia in women across the life span.

Anemia is a global health issue with disproportionately high prevalence in women. In addition to being an independent risk factor for decreased quality of life and increased morbidity and mortality, anemia in women has been linked to unfavorable outcomes of pregnancy and other issues for children born to anemic women. Iron deficiency is the leading cause of anemia in many populations. Guidelines recommend proactive screening for anemia, particularly in the preoperative setting. Once anemia is diagnosed, treatment should be based on etiology (most commonly, iron deficiency followed, in order of prevalence, by inflammation or chronic disease). Iron supplementation (oral and intravenous) offers safe and effective treatment for anemia associated with iron deficiency. Anemia of chronic disease may be more challenging to treat, and attention must be given to the underlying disease, along with use of hematinic agents. Given its enormous impact on the health and well-being of women and the availability of simple and effective treatment options, anemia should never be left unmanaged.

Strategies to reduce the use of blood products: a US perspective.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To describe the recent developments in the strategies to reduce allogeneic blood transfusions with emphasis on the impact on clinical outcomes. RECENT FINDINGS: Concerns over the safety, efficacy, and supply of allogeneic blood continue to necessitate its judicious use as the standard of care. Patient blood management is emerging as a multidisciplinary, multimodality strategy to address anemia and decrease bleeding with the goal of reduced transfusions and improved patient outcomes. Common risk factors for transfusion include anemia, blood loss, and inappropriate transfusion decisions. Several approaches are available to mitigate these. Recent data continue to support the effectiveness of various hematinics, hemostatic agents and devices, as well as intermittent discontinuation of anticoagulant therapy. Use of autotransfusion techniques, particularly cell salvage, is the other strategy with accumulating data supporting its safety and efficacy. Finally, implementation of evidence-based transfusion guidelines will help to target allogeneic blood to those patients who are likely to benefit from it and thus reduce or eliminate unnecessary exposure to blood. SUMMARY: Patient blood management is the timely use of safe and effective medical and surgical techniques designed to prevent anemia and decrease bleeding in an effort to improve patient outcome.

Clinical consequences of iron overload from chronic red blood cell transfusions, its diagnosis, and its management by chelation therapy.

Iron overload from chronic transfusion therapy can be extremely toxic. Excess transfusional iron is deposited in the liver, heart, and other organs as free iron, which can cause organ dysfunction and damage over time. Increased awareness of the risk of iron overload in patients requiring chronic transfusion therapy is needed, and such patients should be screened for hyperferritinemia. Those with serial serum ferritin levels exceeding 1000 ng/mL and a total infused red blood cell volume of 120 mL/kg of body weight or more should be treated with chelation therapy and then monitored to ensure that treatment adequately reduces iron levels.

Blood salvage use in gynecologic oncology.

BACKGROUND: Blood salvage allows for collection and processing of surgical blood loss with the eventual reinfusion of washed red blood cells (RBCs) back to the patient. The use of blood salvage in patients undergoing surgery for malignancy is off-label. Controversy exists as to the risk of potential cancer dissemination resulting from the reinfusion of the processed blood, but no data are available to confirm this risk. Recent studies have demonstrated that filtering the salvaged blood using a leukoreduction filter (LRF) significantly decreases the number of cancer cells in the recovered RBC aliquot in a variety of cancer types. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Patients on the gynecologic oncology service as part of the bloodless surgery program at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center from April 1998 to April 2007 were identified. Three patients that had reinfusion of cell salvage blood (all reinfusions were performed after filtration with a LRF) were studied further with emphasis placed on long-term outcomes. RESULTS: Two of the three patients did not show any evidence of metastases after surgery. The only patient that developed evidence of hematogenous progression had known liver metastases at the time of her initial diagnosis and therefore had hematogenous dissemination before her index surgery. CONCLUSION: In this series of patients undergoing surgery for malignancies on the gynecologic oncology service, blood salvage with LRF was not definitively associated with hematogenous dissemination. Further large controlled studies are needed to demonstrate the clinical safety of the use of blood salvage in this setting.

Blood conservation in practice: an overview.

Allogeneic blood transfusions are associated with risks and unfavourable outcomes. Blood conservation provides an alternative, with potential to improve patient care with limited or no blood transfusion. Many approaches are available, but the most essential ones are simple and cost free.

Blood management.

CONTEXT: We provide an overview of the principles of blood management: the appropriate use of blood and blood components, with a goal of minimizing their use. OBJECTIVE: To review the strategies that exploit combinations of surgical and medical techniques, technologic devices, and pharmaceuticals, along with an interdisciplinary team approach that combines specialists who are expert at minimizing allogeneic blood transfusion. DATA SOURCES: A search on Medline and PubMed for the terms English and humans used in articles published within the last 20 years. CONCLUSIONS: Blood management is most successful when multidisciplinary, proactive programs are in place so that these strategies can be individualized to specific patients.