%0 Journal Article
%T Debate: Transfusing to normal haemoglobin levels will not improve outcome
%A Gonzalo Alvarez
%A Paul C H¨¦bert
%A Sharyn Szick
%J Critical Care
%D 2001
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/cc987
%X Anaemia is a common condition in critically ill patients, and RBC transfusions are often used in the treatment and management of this patient population. In fact, one study [1] reported that 25% of all critically ill patients received RBC transfusions. Many laboratory studies [2,3,4,5,6,7,8] have examined the physiological responses (ie compensatory mechanisms) of the body to anaemia, which include the following [9]: increased cardiac output, decreased blood viscosity, capillary changes, increased oxygen extraction, and other tissue adaptations to meet oxygen requirements. Although critically ill patients are affected by a number of factors that predispose them to the adverse consequences of anaemia, persistence of this condition is of particular concern because it may cause the compensatory mechanisms in these patients to become impaired, risking oxygen deprivation in vital organs [9]. However, critically ill patients may also be at increased risk from the adverse effects of RBC transfusions, such as pulmonary oedema from volume overload, immune suppression resulting in increased risk of infection, and microcirculatory injury from poorly deformable RBCs.It is the aim of the present commentary to justify the statement 'Transfusing to normal haemoglobin concentration will not improve outcome.' If we define normal haemoglobin as being greater than 115 g/l for women and greater than 125 g/l for men, then there is no evidence in the literature to justify maintaining such high concentrations by the use of RBC transfusions in any anaemic patient. There may, however, be some debate about adopting a transfusion threshold of 100 g/l, which is well below 'normal'.It has recently been shown [10] that critically ill patients are able to tolerate lower levels of haemoglobin than was previously believed. The practice of adhering to a lower transfusion threshold would, obviously, reduce the number of allogeneic RBCs transfused. It is our goal to impress upon the reader that transf
%K anemia
%K hemoglobin concentration
%K red blood cells
%K transfusion
%K transfusion strategies
%U http://ccforum.com/content/5/2/56