Risk factors for transfusion after orthotopic liver transplantation

Background: Transfusion of blood products during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Although risk factors associated with intraoperative transfusion requirements have been widely assessed, published data on the prediction of postoperative transfusion requirements are sparse. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate risk factors for postoperative allogeneic transfusion requirements in OLT. Methods: Clinical characteristics and intraoperative parameters of 645 consecutive adult patients undergoing OLT were retrospectively reviewed. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the main determinants for postoperative transfusion requirements. Results: Determinants of postoperative transfusion requirements of any blood product in the postoperative period were the number of blood products transfused in the intraoperative period (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.08-1.28), warm ischemia time (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02-1.08), MELD score (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.08) and hepatocellular carcinoma (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.28-0.72). A dose-dependent effect between the number of units transfused in the intraoperative period and transfusion requirements in the postoperative period was also observed. The relative risk of postoperative allogeneic transfusion of any blood component was 5.9 (95% CI 3.4-10.4) for patients who received 1-2 units in the intraoperative period, 7.3 (95% CI 3.6-14.7) for those who received 3-5 units in the intraoperative period, and 11.1 (95% CI 4.7-26.4) for those who received 6 or more units, when compared to no intraoperative blood transfusion. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated an association between intraoperative transfusion and warm ischemia time with postoperative transfusion requirements. The identification of risk factors for transfusion in the postoperative period may improve management of these patients by increasing awareness to bleeding complications in this high-risk population and by expanding hemostasis monitoring to the postoperative period.46643143

Transfusion reaction and hemovigilance: An imperative discussion in Brazilian hemotherapy services

Transfusion of blood components is considered safer, but it took years to reach this level. One of the most effective ways to make blood transfusion a safer practice is hemovigilance, which provides important data, including the history of feared transfusion reactions. In recent years in Brazil, there has been an improvement in the reporting of transfusion reactions, however due to the great diversity of hematology services, there are still transfusion reactions. The aims of this study were described the main types of transfusion reactions, as well as to evaluate the underreporting importance of transfusion occurrences of hemotherapy services in Brazil