Ultra-restrictive red blood cell transfusion strategies in extensively burned patients

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, due to the shortage of blood products, some extensive burn patients were forced to adopt an “ultra-restrictive” transfusion strategy, in which the hemoglobin levels of RBC transfusion thresholds were 0.05). Among the ultra-restrictive transfusion group, patients with RBC transfusion threshold < 6 g/dl had a significantly higher hospital mortality than 6–7 g/dl (53.1% vs 21.3%, p = 0.001). For extensive burn patients, no significant adverse effects of ultra-restrictive RBC transfusion were found in this study. When the blood supply is tight, it is acceptable to adopt an RBC transfusion threshold of < 7 g/dL but not < 6 g/dL.