• Alexandre Fogaça Cristante, Paulo Alvim Borges, Angelo Roberto Barbosa, Olavo Biraghi Letaif, Raphael Martus Marcon, and Tarcisio Eloy Pessoa de Barros Filho.
• Spine Division, (IOT-HCFMUSP), Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
• Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2014 Dec 1; 69 (10): 672-6.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the association of clinical and demographic variables in patients requiring blood transfusion during elective surgery to treat scoliosis with the aim of identifying markers predictive of the need for blood transfusion.MethodsBased on the review of medical charts at a public university hospital, this retrospective study evaluated whether the following variables were associated with the need for red blood cell transfusion (measured by the number of packs used) during scoliosis surgery: scoliotic angle, extent of arthrodesis (number of fused levels), sex of the patient, surgery duration and type of scoliosis (neuromuscular, congenital or idiopathic).ResultsOf the 94 patients evaluated in a 55-month period, none required a massive blood transfusion (most patients needed less than two red blood cell packs). The number of packs was not significantly associated with sex or type of scoliosis. The extent of arthrodesis (r = 0.103), surgery duration (r = 0.144) and scoliotic angle (r = 0.004) were weakly correlated with the need for blood transfusion. Linear regression analysis showed an association between the number of spine levels submitted to arthrodesis and the volume of blood used in transfusions (p = 0.001).ConclusionThis study did not reveal any evidence of a significant association between the need for red blood cell transfusion and scoliotic angle, sex or surgery duration in scoliosis correction surgery. Submission of more spinal levels to arthrodesis was associated with the use of a greater number of blood packs.

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