Intraoperative and immediate postoperative transfusion: Clinical-hematological profile of transfunded patients in a university hospital

Abstract

Introduction: The transfusion practice by surgery blood reserve, varied among services, must be performed through the rational and restrictive use of blood components because it is a scarce and expensive resource for health care services.

Objective: Analyze the use of blood products for surgery blood reserve by means of the study of the clinical-hematological profile of patients submitted to intraoperative and immediate postoperative transfusions.

Methods: This was an observational, cross-sectional, and retrospective study, conducted by collecting biological, operational, and laboratory variables, involving 680 patients at a university hospital who had elective surgery with surgery blood reserve request sent during the period from October 2021 to October 2022.

Results: The overall transfusion rate was 25.44%, and the mean preoperative hemoglobin level of transfused patients was 9.74 ± 2.50 g/dL, with the mean number of transfusions packed red blood cell units was 1.58 ± 0.77. Patients with higher preoperative hemoglobin levels were less likely to have transfusion (p < 0.001) and patients who had surgical oncologic were more likely to require transfusion (p = 0.048). The transfusion rate of packed red blood cells and platelets concentrates, compared to what was requested, was 15.86% and 5.82%.

Conclusion: There is a tendency of transfusions to follow restrictive models, with higher transfusion probability in surgical oncologic. Furthermore, there should be more a conscise use of the surgery blood reserves request.

Keywords: Blood transfusion; General surgery; Intraoperative period.