• Oliver Karam, Ruchika Goel, Heidi Dalton, and Marianne E Nellis.
• Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Richmond, VA.
• Crit. Care Med. 2020 Aug 1; 48 (8): e698e705e698-e705.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the epidemiology of hemostatic transfusions (plasma, platelet, and cryoprecipitate) in children supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.DesignSecondary analysis of a large observational cohort study.SettingEight pediatric institutions within the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network.PatientsCritically ill children supported by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation was used in the care of 514 consecutive children. Platelets were transfused on 68% of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation days, plasma on 34% of the days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and cryoprecipitate on 14%. Only 24% of the days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were free of any hemostatic transfusions. Daily platelet transfusion dose was independently associated with chest tube output (p < 0.001), other bleeding requiring RBC transfusion (p = 0.03), and daily set platelet goal (p = 0.009), but not with total platelet count (p = 0.75). Daily plasma transfusion dose was independently associated with chest tube output (p < 0.001), other bleeding requiring RBC transfusion (p = 0.01), activated clotting time (p = 0.001), and antithrombin levels (p = 0.02), but not with international normalized ratio (p = 0.99) or activated partial thromboplastin time (p = 0.29). Daily cryoprecipitate transfusion dose was independently associated with younger age (p = 0.009), but not with chest tube bleeding (p = 0.18), other bleeding requiring RBC transfusion (p = 0.75), fibrinogen level (p = 0.67), or daily fibrinogen goal (p = 0.81).ConclusionsPlatelets were transfused on two third of the days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, plasma on one third, and cryoprecipitate on one sixth of the days. Although most hemostatic transfusions were independently associated with bleeding, they were not independently associated with the majority of hemostatic testing. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the appropriateness of these transfusion strategies.

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