A multicenter study, led by the Physiopathology and Pain research group of IDIBELL and the Bellvitge University Hospital, has shown that values inferior to 10 g/dl in preoperative hemoglobin are decisive in predicting the transfusion requirements of packed red blood cells in transplantation hepatic.
The results of this study, entitled “Baseline hemoglobin and thromboelastometry are predictive of red blood cell requirements and one-year mortality in liver transplantation“, have been published in the scientific journal Transfusion and Apheresis Science.
A total of 591 adult liver transplant patients from 10 Spanish centers were reviewed. The median red blood cell transfusion was two units and 63% of patients were transfused. Comparing transfused and non-transfused patients, hemoglobin was inversely associated with the need for transfusion.
19% of patients who received massive transfusion considered as more than 6 packed red blood cells. Hemoglobin ≤10 g/dL predicted massive transfusion. One-year survival of the patients was significantly lower in patients who required massive transfusion (78% and 76%, respectively), compared to those who did not (94% and 93%, respectively).
One of the conclusions of the study is that more efforts are needed to increase hemoglobin levels above 10 g/dl in patients awaiting liver transplantation.