From a sample of 759 transfusions requests (2123 Units) for 392 patients, evaluated by retrospective audits the incidence of inappropriate transfusion at our Hospital was found to be 25.8% of request, affecting 23.3% of units and 39.3% of patients. The most frequent causes were: non-surgical and surgical use of whole blood in patients without hypovolaemia, use of fresh frozen plasma in patients with normal coagulation study red blood cells transfusion in patients with chronic anaemia and haematocrit of 24-30% without risk factors, surgical overtransfusion and prophylactic platelet transfusion in patients with platelet count above 20 x 10(9)/L. 17.3% of units could have been saved, and 32.3% of patients were overexposed or unnecessarily exposed to the risks inherent in any transfusion.