1. An audit of perioperative blood component transfusion in Cardiac Surgery in Cork University Hospital.
Feighery L1, Chandler J2. 1 School of Medicine, UCC, Cork. 2 Department of ITU & Anaesthesia, CUH
Cardiac surgery consumes between 10% and 15% [1] of donated blood. Despite the risks associated with blood component transfusion [2] and audits documenting the use of blood components abroad [3, 4], there is a paucity of Irish data available. Our aim was to describe the use of blood components in the perioperative period of cardiac surgery and compare the use of these blood components with current guidelines. We undertook a retrospective single-centre observational study in Cork University Hospital. On obtaining ethical approval, we collected pertinent data from January-June 2015 on the perioperative period of cardiac surgery. 93/223 patients who underwent cardiac surgery received a blood component transfusion resulting in 314 transfusion episodes. These consisted of 537 total units: 251 (46.7%) units of Red Blood Cells (RBCs), 102 (19%) units of Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP), 98 (18.3%) units of platelets (Plts) and 86 (16%) units of fibrinogen (Fib). The median (IQR) pre-transfusion haemoglobin concentration and fibrinogen concentration were 7.0 g/dL (6.6 – 7.8 g/dL) and 1.7 g/L (1.5 – 2.7 g/L) for RBC and Fib transfusions respectively. The mean (SD) pre-transfusion INR and platelet concentration were 1.2 IU (0.1 IU) and 176 x 109 /L (80 x 109 /L) for FFP and Plt transfusions respectively. 98.8% of RBC transfusion episodes followed a haemoglobin concentration of <10 g/dL. Guidelines concerning the appropriate use of FFP, Plts and Fib are not population specific. For this reason only their use is described.
However, the use of RBCs in cardiac surgery is in adherence to guidelines.
1. Ferraris VA, et al. The Annals of thoracic surgery. 2011;91(3):
2. Kilic A, Whitman GJ. The Annals of thoracic surgery. 2014;97(2):
3. Westbrook A, et al. Intensive care medicine. 2010;36(7):
4. Qureshi H, et al. Transfus Clin Biol. 2007;14(6):

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Name (block capitals) Luke Feighery
Signature L. Feighery (electronic)
Date 2/10/2015
PI/Supervisor Name (where appropriate block capitals) Dr. John Chandler